Here's a story we hear more often than we'd like. A business owner wants to change something small on their website. They message their old developer, and there's no answer. Then they find out the domain is registered in the developer's name, the hosting is on the developer's account, and nobody has the password. The site is "theirs", but they can't touch it.
It doesn't have to be like that. Here's a simple check you can do today, in plain words.
1. Is the domain in your name?
The domain (yourbusiness.com) is the most important thing you own online. If it's lost, your website, your emails and your Google ranking go with it.
- Log in to the domain company (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Hostinger and so on) and check the owner name and email.
- It should be your name and an email you control, not your developer's.
- Check the renewal date and turn on auto-renew, so it never expires by accident.
If you don't know where your domain is registered, a free "WHOIS lookup" will show you the company.
2. Is the hosting on your account?
Your hosting is where the website lives. If it's on someone else's account, they can switch it off, and you can't move it.
The best setup: the hosting account is in your name, paid with your card, and your developer gets their own login to work on it. When the work ends, you remove their access. Nothing breaks.
3. Do you have the admin logins?
You should be able to log in to all of these yourself, with an administrator account:
- Your website (for example the WordPress dashboard)
- Your hosting and domain
- Your email accounts
- Google Search Console and Google Analytics
- Payment accounts (Stripe, PayPal) and any paid plugins or themes
Keep them in a password manager, not in an old WhatsApp chat.
4. Do you have the code?
If your site was custom-built, the code is part of what you paid for. Ask for it.
- For a custom site or app: a Git repository (GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket) in your account, with the full history.
- For WordPress: the custom theme and any custom plugins, as files you can download.
- Paid plugins and themes should be licensed to you, so updates keep coming after the developer is gone.
5. Do you have a recent backup?
A backup only helps if you can get to it. Make sure there's an automatic backup of the files and the database, stored somewhere other than the website's own server, and that you know how to download it.
Try it once. If nobody can show you a backup, you don't have one.
6. Does your contract say it's yours?
Read the agreement you signed (if there was one). It should say clearly that you own the website, the design and the code once it's paid for. If nothing was written down, ask your developer to confirm it in an email. It takes them two minutes.
What if something is missing?
Don't panic, and don't start a fight. Most developers will hand things over if you ask politely and clearly:
- Make a list of what you need (domain transfer, hosting access, admin login, code, backup).
- Send it in one message, with a reasonable deadline.
- Once you have access, change every password and remove old accounts you don't recognise.
If your developer has disappeared, a lot can still be saved. The domain company can often help you prove the domain is yours, and a good developer can rebuild access to the site from the hosting.
How we do it
Everything we build is yours from day one: the domain and hosting stay in your name, the code lives in your repository, and you get every login. When a project ends, nothing is held back. If you ever decide to work with someone else, you can just hand them the keys.
If you've lost access to your own website, or you're not sure what you own, tell us about it. We take over sites from other developers all the time, and we reply within 5-10 minutes.