Lost domain

I basically do design and development - also hosting.
I have a new client who has a bit of a nightmare story... Years ago another design company registered their domain (A .co.uk domain) on their behalf.

The design company have since gone bust. Their number and email doesn't work any more.

SO my client has no access to their domain settings and has been without their web site and domain for weeks now. The domain is registered in the name of the design company and not my client.

They have asked me to take over their site and hosting - but any ideas where to start?

I have contacted Nominet but was wondering if there are any other methods as I haven't heard back.

You'll have to talk to the registrar and see what they will accept to show proof of ownership. If you can show you have access to the website, and that the company using the website is who you say they are, they will probably accept some type of verification process.

I went through a sort of similar process recently where we had to fill out a form and fax/send it back to them with various ID numbers and such for the non-profit it was for.

Thanks, unfortunately there is no access to anything, just a registered domain that doesn't function... hopefully writing to Nominet/registrar is a step in the right direction

It may be the only step you can take. If you can, you may want to call them and try and talk directly to someone to start the process. I take it the domain points to a webhost provider that is no longer around as well, or is it that the username/password were something that only the defunct company knew?

Yes, well, unfortunately both. The domain points to a defunct server and also the previous company have the username and password to manage the domain.

The other option you have is waiting until the domain expires and then re-registering it at that point, although of course that's probably not very feasible for a company.

Have you tried contacting GoDaddy.com or another company to see maybe what they can do?