Who owns your business website?

Your website is still online, but you cannot change the hours without asking the person who built it. That is a sign you may not control your own site. Paying a website invoice tells you who received payment. It does not tell you which accounts you can recover or what you can take with you.

For a Dallas-Fort Worth shop owner, this matters before a redesign or a change of supplier. Start with your domain account, then check the hosting and the website files. You can make progress today without moving anything.

Find the domain account

The domain is the address customers type. The registrar is the company that manages its registration. The account used to buy it might belong to your business, an employee, or the designer. Ask whoever handles the website for the registrar name and the account email.

Use ICANN Lookup as a starting point. Enter the domain itself, leaving out the page path, then look for the registrar, registration dates and nameservers. Save the result with your website records. This helps you identify where to ask questions; it does not recover the account for you.

A missing owner name is not proof that someone else owns the domain. ICANN explains that some registration data is not publicly visible. Check the registrant details inside the account or ask the registrar to confirm them through its support process.

Once you have access, check whose name or organization is recorded and where renewal notices go. Confirm that the recovery email reaches someone your business authorizes. If an old employee's address is still listed, ask the registrar about the correct update process before making changes, especially if you also plan to transfer the domain.

Keep a record of the renewal arrangement. Who receives the bill? Which payment method is used? Who takes action if renewal fails? Write down the answers where the next person responsible for the site can find them.

Check hosting separately

Hosting is the service that runs the website. It can be supplied by the same company as the domain, but do not assume the accounts are connected.

Ask to see the hosting account and confirm whether you have owner access or only permission to edit pages. Ask the provider to show you how to remove a designer's access without closing the account. You should understand who can approve billing changes and who receives service notices.

Request a handover demonstration. Have the person responsible show where the site is stored, how a backup is obtained, and how another developer would receive access. You do not need to learn every setting. You need to know whether someone you appoint can operate the site.

For a salon or auto shop, a good test: if the current supplier stopped answering, what would the next supplier need? Put that question in writing and ask for a specific answer. A vague promise to "sort it out later" leaves the next supplier without instructions.

Ask what owning the code means

An editable dashboard and a copy of the website code are different deliverables. Ask what files you receive and whether those files are enough to run the site elsewhere.

The agreement should explain what happens to custom code, your photos and your written content. Ask about any platform subscriptions or third-party components the site needs. Have the designer identify anything you cannot move or continue using after the service ends.

Request operating instructions with the files. A folder nobody can build or publish is not a handover. Ask for the steps to run the site, the location of its settings, and the process for handing access to another supplier.

Also ask whether forms or booking tools rely on accounts outside the hosting service. Keep an account list without putting passwords in an ordinary shared document. Use the provider's access controls to give people the permissions their work needs.

Pointing nameservers is not transferring a domain

Changing nameservers changes which service answers the domain's DNS requests. Transferring the domain changes its registrar. ICANN's transfer FAQ explains that changing hosting or nameservers can be an alternative to a registrar transfer.

That distinction matters when someone says a new website requires you to "move the domain." Ask which change they mean and why it is necessary.

Before changing nameservers, have the person doing the work document the existing DNS records and the services that depend on them. Include business email in that conversation. Ask for a change plan and a way to reverse the change if something fails. Keep the existing account available until the replacement has been checked.

Know the transfer timing before you change details

ICANN's current Transfer Policy lets a registrar deny a transfer during the first 60 days after registration. It also permits denial within 60 days after a registrar transfer, with a shorter period and specified exceptions possible.

A material change of registrant can trigger a separate 60-day transfer lock. A registrar may offer an opt-out, but it must be used before the change. Ask about the sequence before updating ownership details and requesting a move.

The rules are changing. The ICANN board adopted transfer-policy recommendations on June 7, 2026, while its implementation page still lists the review in the queue. Adoption is not the same as an effective replacement policy. Confirm the applicable lock and release date with your registrar before scheduling work.

Put the exit questions in the proposal

Before signing, ask the designer:

• Will the domain be registered to the business in an account we control?
• Will we control the hosting account and be able to revoke your access?
• What code, content and operating instructions do we receive?
• What remains dependent on another company's subscription?
• What work and charges apply if we leave?

Ask for those answers in the agreement, not only in a sales call. If the arrangement requires a later handover, specify what is delivered and how it will be demonstrated.

At ThinkCodec, clients own the domain and the code. Our web design page explains the account access and handover included in the work, and our approach describes how we test and document a build.

Start by finding the registrar account today. If access or the handover is unclear, send us the website address and the part you cannot control. We will start from there.