The key points
- Register the domain and hosting in your own name.
- Get the repository, not just a zip file, and deployment access.
- Third-party accounts should belong to your business.
- Handover documentation should explain how to deploy and update.
What exactly should you own?
Four things matter. The domain, because it is your address and your search history. The hosting or deployment account, because that is where the site runs. The source code, in a repository you control, because it is the site itself. And the accounts for anything connected to it, such as analytics, advertising, booking and payment tools, because they hold your data and history. In the US, code a contractor writes for you isn't automatically yours under copyright law unless the contract assigns it, so put ownership in writing (US Copyright Office, Circular 30).
How does a developer end up holding your website?
Usually by accident. A developer registers the domain on their own account to save time, hosts the site under their own plan, and keeps the code on their own machine. Everything works until the relationship ends or the developer disappears (if that has already happened, see how to take over a website built by someone else), at which point recovering access becomes slow and sometimes impossible.
Avoid it by opening the accounts yourself, part of what to prepare before hiring a developer, and inviting the developer, rather than asking them to open accounts for you.
What should you ask for at handover?
The full repository with history, deployment access, a list of every third-party service and who pays for it, and written notes explaining how to build, deploy and update the site. Our websites ship with source code and deployment access handed over, and with documentation so that a different developer could take over without our involvement. Agencies that resell our work under their own brand get the same, in their own repository and under their own name.
- Full repository, not an exported archive
- Deployment and hosting access in your name
- A list of third-party services, owners and costs
- Written notes on building, deploying and updating
Ownership check for any website
- Is the domain registered under your name and email?
- Do you hold the hosting or deployment account?
- Do you control the code repository?
- Are analytics, ad and booking accounts yours?
- Is there written handover documentation?
Sources
Rules and guidance this answer relies on. Policies change, so check the current version before acting on it.