Yes—usually the new owner is the one responsible for future renewal payments after a domain transfer, but the transfer itself often includes an extra year added to the registration term. ICANN also says a registrar cannot require you to renew first just to complete a transfer, and the losing registrar is not supposed to bill the new owner for the transfer fee itself.

How it usually works

  • The domain is transferred to the new registrar.
  • The transfer often includes payment for one additional year of registration.
  • After that, the new owner pays any later renewal fees to the new registrar.

Important nuance

If the domain was renewed very recently, some of that renewal credit can be adjusted during transfer, so it may look confusing on the expiration date. In general, though, the new owner ends up carrying the renewal responsibility after the transfer is complete.

Practical example

If a domain has 8 months left and is transferred to another registrar, the new registrar usually charges a transfer fee and adds about 1 year to the expiration date, so the new owner is effectively paying for the next renewal cycle.

Short answer

The new owner usually pays renewal going forward , and the transfer commonly includes that first renewal year as part of the move.

TL;DR: In most cases, yes—the new owner pays for renewal after the transfer, and the transfer fee often covers one extra year of registration.