The moment people discover they do not own their website is almost always the moment they try to leave. The developer stops answering, or quotes an unreasonable number for a small change, and the business finds out it has been renting something it thought it had bought.
Four things to check. Do it now, not when you need them.
1. The domain
Open your registrar and look at the registrant. If it is your developer's name, their company, or an email address you do not control, you do not own your domain. It does not matter who paid.
This is the most serious one. Losing a domain means losing your email, your search rankings, and every link anyone ever made to you.
Fix it by requesting a transfer to your own registrar account. Do it while the relationship is good.
2. The code
Ask where the repository is and whether you have access. Three common answers, and only one is acceptable:
- "It's in your GitHub account" — correct.
- "It's in ours, we'll hand it over at the end" — get that in writing, with a date.
- "We license it to you" — you do not own it. You are renting, and the rent can change.
Platform-built sites are a different case: a Squarespace or Shopify site is theirs, and that is the trade you made when you chose it. Just know that you cannot take the build elsewhere, only the content.
3. The accounts
Analytics, search console, ad accounts, the email service, the payment provider. These accumulate quietly during a build and often sit under the developer's login because it was faster at the time.
Every one of them should be owned by an email address at your domain, with the developer added as a user you can remove.
4. The hosting
Whose account is the bill on? If your site lives inside your developer's hosting account alongside forty other clients, you cannot move without their cooperation, and you have no visibility into what happens if they stop paying.
What to do about it, in order
- Move the domain to a registrar account in your name.
- Get the repository, or a written transfer date.
- Create accounts under your own domain email and re-invite the developer.
- Move hosting into your own account and grant access.
None of that is hostile, and a good studio will help you do it without being asked — we hand all of it over at the end of every project, which is why our contact page says you own it from day one rather than something vaguer.
The clause to look for
In any agreement, find the section on intellectual property. It should say the code transfers to you on final payment. If it says the developer retains ownership and grants you a licence, that is a different deal, and it should be priced like one.
If there is no agreement at all, that is the thing to fix before the next invoice.