Hi there. Registrars usually provide a "grace period",
which is typically 30-60 days after the expiry date,
when people can still renew their domains. So even if
they miss the expiry date, they'll still have a chance
to renew their domains. If they do not renew within the
grace period, the registrar will release the domain so
that others can register it.
You cannot just snatch the domain from underneath this
guy's nose. :-) You can, however, 'pre-book' the domain.
That is, you can put in a request for the domain in case
it doesn't get renewed by the end of the grace period.
Pre-booking services will attempt to register the domain
the moment it's made available (note: they can't guarantee
success because other people may have also pre-booked the
same domain).
There are lots of pre-booking services available. Two
of the better known services are
SnapNames
and Pool.com.
GoDaddy
also offers this service for .com and .net domains.
For .ca domains, take a look at
CanReg.com
or at the Canadian Domain Name Service.
