Address Search

[Curiosa]

Can anyone tell me how I can find the postal address of a tradesman who has a webpage. When I first contacted him, his address was on the webpage, but after I sent him an email complaining about his work, he removed his address from it. I now need to send him a recorded delivery letter. Is there any way that I can find it and is it legal for a trader to remove their address?

[wolf63]

Google him ~ there should be other results on Google (like review sites) that might give details of his business.

[Buenchico]

What's on the end of the web address?

If it's .uk (e.g. .co.uk, .biz.uk, etc) then entering the address here should show the name and address of the owner of that domain name:
http://www.nominet.uk/whois/
(Only non-trading individuals are permitted to withhold their addresses).

If it's .com (or anything else that doesn't end in .uk) you might be able to get the information by carrying out a similar search here but the rule about hiding addresses doesn't apply:
https://whois.icann.org/en

[Buenchico]

PS: Sole traders in the UK must include the principal address that their business is operated from on their websites. [Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002].

[Curiosa]

He changed addresses about 6 months to a year ago. I managed to get the old address from a review site and I've sent the letter there, hoping that he may still own this property as it is a flat, or that it can be redirected.
Thanks for your reply,Wolf.
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[Curiosa]

Hi Buenchico
I've tried that search for the .com addresses, but it is saying my search contains an invalid character. I've checked it twice and it is the email address I've been using. It's a good tip, though and I will keep a note of it for future.
Good to know about the ECD regulations.
Many thanks
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[Buenchico]

It's not the email address that you need to be checking but the domain name. For example, if his web page is at twistingjoe.com, with an email address of [email protected], it's just the 'twistingjoe.com' bit that you should search for.

[Curiosa]

Hi Buenchico
Thanks for that. Didn't read your reply properly. Have looked up with web address and it's his old address, updated March 2015. Found out from Rightmove sold prices that this flat was sold October 2015. Should he update when he moves?
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[Buenchico]

Nominet (the body which registers UK domain names) would probably expect that an address be updated when someone moves although, in practice, that probably only happens when someone re-registers their domain name (which they have to do every two years).

[Curiosa]

Is that the ECD regulations? Oh, well, I'll only have to wait for eight months.
Thanks for all your help, Buenchico.
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[Buenchico]

There are two separate requirements:

1. Nominet gives bona fide non-trading individuals the right to have their address (but not their name) excluded from the database of owners of .uk domain names. (They have to request such exclusion). Everyone else has to accept that, by registering a .uk domain name, their details will appear on a publicly-accessible database.

However, while Nominet is an 'official' body (in that it's the one authorised to allocate .uk domain names), its rulings aren't part of UK law.

2. The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations are derived from the much (and often falsely) maligned European Commission, with that body's rulings being incorporated into UK law through the Regulations. They don't say anything at all about whether the correct address should appear on the Nominet database but they do demand that the normal trading address of any 'sole trader' business must appear on that business's website. (For a limited company it's their 'registered address', as listed at Companies House, which must appear).

So the trader is breaking the law by not including his business address on his website.

[Buenchico]

^^^ PS: If it's a 'com address (rather than a .uk one), there's no obligation for the address to appear on any publicly-accessible database of domain names.

However the law about including the business address on the website still stands.

[Curiosa]

Many thanks again, Buenchico.
That is certainly something to go on.
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