This guide separates out what is what, shows you how to check in a couple of minutes whose name your domain is in, and what to do if it has all ended up on a former collaborator’s account.
As a rule: the business should own the domain, the Google accounts and the business email, and should have access to the hosting and the content of the site. Who owns the code and on what terms is a matter of agreement and should be written into the quote or the contract, because there is no default rule that applies to every case.
01What is actually separate
These are the things that get called “the website” in conversation but in reality live in different places:
- The domain — the address (
yourcompany.co.uk, for instance). It is registered in the name of a person or a company; that party is called the registrant. - The registrar — the company through which the domain is registered. It is not the owner; it keeps the record and bills for the renewal.
- DNS — it points your domain at a server. It can sit with the registrar, with the host, or with a third service.
- The hosting — the server the site’s files sit on. A separate account, a separate bill.
- The business email — often with a completely different provider from the site, even though it uses the same domain.
- The code and the content — the files themselves, the copy and the photographs.
- The admin accounts — the login to the system for editing content.
- The Google accounts — Analytics, Search Console and the business profile on Google. Three separate things that often get mixed up.
- The social media accounts.
- Licences — fonts, photographs, a theme or plugins. A licence can be in the contractor’s name, not yours.
02“I have access” is not the same thing as “I am the owner”
This is the distinction that costs the most in practice. Access means you can log in right now. Ownership means you cannot be shut out. With Google’s tools the distinction exists formally too: the documentation separates the owner of an account or a profile from users with lower permissions, and the owner can add and remove users.
The practical consequence: if your business is only a “user” and the agency is the “owner”, your access can disappear overnight — and with nobody meaning any harm, for instance when a collaborator closes their account.
03Who should have what
The recommended split of ownership and access for a small business. The last column holds concrete checks you can run yourself.
04How to check in five minutes whose name the domain is in
- For .rs domains, open the public whois search run by RNIDS, type in your domain and see who is listed as the registrant.
- For other extensions (.com, .net and the like) use ICANN Lookup.
- If it shows the contractor, an agency or an unknown party instead of your business — that is a finding to be settled calmly and in writing, and not proof that anybody acted dishonestly. Very often it is simply a shortcut taken in a hurry, at the start of the relationship.
- If the details are hidden by privacy protection, ask the registrar, as the business the service is in the name of.
The same principle applies to hosting and email: try logging in and see whether the account is in your name and on your invoice, or somebody else’s.
05What to ask for before the work starts
- That the quote states explicitly in whose name the domain is registered.
- A list of the accounts you will receive, and when you receive them.
- A sentence about what stays with you if the relationship ends.
- Who pays for, and who technically carries out, the renewal of the domain and the hosting.
- Whether you get a copy of the site, and in what form.
These five items are part of a wider list in the guide on how to compare website quotes, which also has a table to fill in.
06What to do if it is all on a former collaborator’s account
The order we recommend, and one we have been through with clients ourselves:
Take stock before you do anything
For each of the eleven items in the table write down: I have access / I do not / I do not know.
Make a copy of everything you do have access to
Copy, photographs, a content export, the business email.
Write to the collaborator — briefly and without accusation
Ask for the domain transfer and the handover of the accounts, with a deadline. Most cases end right here.
If there is no reply, approach the registrar and the host
As the business the service is in the name of, or the one that paid the invoices. They have set procedures for such situations and will ask for evidence.
For a Google profile there is an official procedure
Requesting access from the current owner, with a deadline. How the profile looks to a customer is described in a guide of its own.
If none of that resolves it — a lawyer
Not us, and not instructions off the internet.
07How we hand over credentials
At the end of a project the client receives from us a list of every account in the table above, with who owns it and where to log in. We register the domain to the client’s business, unless the client explicitly asks otherwise. If we carry on working together through website maintenance, we remain a user with access — not an owner. How the whole flow looks, from brief to handover, is set out on the web design page.
08Common questions
Do I automatically own the website because I paid for it?
Not necessarily, and it depends on the agreement. Paying for the build and owning the domain, the code and the accounts are separate questions, settled by the quote or the contract. So ask for the quote to state explicitly who owns what. This is not legal advice — for a specific case, ask a lawyer.
How do I check whose name my domain is registered in?
For .rs domains there is a public whois search run by RNIDS. For most other extensions there is ICANN Lookup. You type in the domain name and you get the registrant and registrar details, to the extent they are not hidden by privacy protection.
What if the developer does not answer my messages?
First establish what you actually control: check the whois for the domain, try logging in to the hosting and the email, and look at whether you are the owner or only a user of the Google accounts. Then approach the registrar and the hosting company as the business the service is in the name of. Never attempt to access an account you do not control.
Who should pay for the domain renewal?
A practical rule: whoever the domain belongs to should know when it expires and have a way to renew it. If the contractor handles the renewal technically, the quote should say what that costs and what happens if the relationship ends before the expiry date.
Can I own the Google business profile while somebody else edits it?
Yes. Google distinguishes the owner of a profile from users with lower levels of access. The business should be the owner, and the agency or collaborator should have editing access that can be withdrawn.
09Sources
- RNIDS — the whois search for .rs domains (accessed 29 July 2026)
- ICANN Lookup — the public search of registration data (accessed 29 July 2026)
- Google — owners and users in Search Console (accessed 29 July 2026)
- Google — managing access in Analytics (accessed 29 July 2026)
- Google — owners and managers of a business profile (accessed 29 July 2026)