Paid for a domain for one year now they want payment for a second year

[seanamarts]

I dont know if I have posted this is the correct place and I apologise if I have posted this incorrectly.

I shall explain.

Last year I set up a domain and website for a small company, I paid for it first as I always do then hand over details ie passwords and signing in information for the person to change to their own personal information, I gave instructions to them on how to change details over. I usually sit with a client and talk it through and show them how to change out lays etc if they want to change things at a later date.. This is not a business I run but do this as a hobby mainly for friends and on the odd occasion for their friends. I only get paid for what I have paid out which is usually the webspace and for the domain registration, and do the artwork/designs and layouts for free as I am a trained graphic artist. I have never had a problem with this until lately.

A small company had asked me to design a website for them, which I did. I didnt complete the designs as it was hard to get hold of them, but when I did I handed all the relevant information over to them and showed them what I had done so far and they were happy and agreed to change the information to their personal information. Shortly after this they went into liquidation. I didnt get the money I paid for the initial outlay but as it was only a few pounds I was not that concerned and understood that they were in finacial difficulties so was not going to persue this.

What my concerns are now though is that the web hosting agents want me to pay for another year. They told me because I had not cancelled the domain I have to now pay for this year. I have only ever had one letter from them and that was to tell me that they are charging me for another year and that because I am late paying for this they had added another £10.00 to the account. They told me that they had tried to get intouch with me using the email that was on the information panal, but as the email was changed over I did not get this. They said they had written, but as I had moved I did not get this reminder. I have explained this to them but they still want me to pay for this year, when I did not sign any thing to say that I would be taking out the domain for a further year, when signing up with this agent there was nothing to suggest that the domain would carry on unless I cancelled it.

Any help on my rights here would be greatly appreciated

many thanks and sorry for it being so long.