There's a redemption grace period where the owner (and only the owner) can renew the domain. After that, anyone can pick it up, but accidentally letting a domai

There's a redemption grace period where the owner (and only the owner) can renew the domain. After that, anyone can pick it up, but accidentally letting a domain expire is "only" some downtime, and if you didn't notice during the month of grace period then it's probably okay to expire.