You should own four things: the domain name, the website files, the hosting account and your content. Many South African businesses own only the last one, because the agency registered the domain and the hosting in its own name. It is worth checking now rather than during a disagreement.
The four things
| What | Why it matters | Who often has it |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Without it you have no address, no email, nothing | The agency, registered in its own name |
| Website files | The actual site. Without these, you rebuild | The agency, or a proprietary platform |
| Hosting account | Where the site lives and who can switch it off | The agency's reseller account |
| Content | Your words, images and data | Usually genuinely yours |
Most disputes we hear about are not really disputes. They are a business discovering, during an ordinary disagreement, that it does not control the thing it assumed it had bought.
The domain is the one that matters most
Lose access to the files and you have lost a website. Lose access to the domain and you have lost your website, your email, anything using that address to authenticate, and every link anyone has ever made to you. It is the single most important asset in this list and the one most often registered carelessly.
A .co.za domain has a registrant, which is the legal holder, and that should be your business. Not your agency, not your developer, not whoever happened to be at a keyboard in 2019.
It is worth checking today. A public WHOIS lookup will tell you who the registrant is, and the answer takes thirty seconds to find and occasionally changes somebody's week.
How to check what you actually control
- The domain. Look it up on a WHOIS service. The registrant should be your business name, and the admin contact should be an email address you can read.
- Hosting. Can you log in yourself, with your own credentials, to a control panel? If the only route is asking somebody, you do not control the hosting.
- The files. Ask for a copy. A reasonable developer will send it without fuss. The reaction to the request tells you most of what you need to know.
- Email. Often overlooked and often tangled up with the domain. If your mail stops when the domain does, that is one failure away from a very bad day.
- Analytics and Search Console. Are they owned by your Google account, or by the agency's? Years of data live there.
What a sensible arrangement looks like
None of this requires distrusting whoever built your site. It requires the same arrangement you would want with an accountant: they do the work, you own the records.
The domain is registered to your business, with an email address you control. The hosting account is in your name, and you give your developer access rather than the other way round. You hold a copy of the files. If the relationship ends, the website does not notice.
Agencies that work this way are not being generous, they are being professional. An agency that resists it is telling you something, and it is worth hearing.
What if you find out you do not own it?
Ask, plainly and without accusation. Most of the time this is historical rather than deliberate — somebody registered a domain quickly in 2017 and nobody thought about it again. Domain registrant changes and hosting transfers are routine and usually take days.
If the request is refused, you are in a different conversation, and it is worth getting advice. A domain registered to someone else is genuinely theirs in the eyes of the registry, whatever the moral position.
The expensive scenario is a proprietary platform where there are no files to hand over. Nothing can be transferred because there is nothing transferable, and the only route out is a rebuild. That is worth knowing before you sign, which is the entire reason this article exists.
What to ask before you sign anything
- Who will the domain be registered to?
- Will the hosting account be in my name?
- Do I get a copy of the files, and when?
- If we part ways, what exactly do I keep?
- Is any part of this built on something proprietary that cannot be moved?
Five questions, two minutes, and they will save some readers of this article a great deal of money. Any agency worth hiring will answer all five without hesitating, and ours are: you, yes, yes, everything, and no.
Common questions
How do I find out who owns my domain?
Look it up on a public WHOIS service. The registrant listed is the legal holder. For a .co.za domain that should be your business name, with an administrative contact email address you can actually access.
My agency registered my domain. Is that a problem?
Potentially. It is often historical rather than deliberate, and a registrant change is routine. Ask for it to be transferred into your business name. The reaction to a polite request tells you a great deal.
Do I own my website if an agency built it?
You own the content. Whether you own the files, the domain and the hosting depends entirely on how it was set up and what the agreement says. Check all four rather than assuming they travel together, because they often do not.
What happens if my web developer disappears?
If the domain and hosting are in your name and you hold a copy of the files, very little — another developer picks it up. If they are not, you may be rebuilding from scratch on a new domain, which is as bad as it sounds.
Can I move my site to another host?
If you control the domain, the hosting account and the files, yes, and it is routine. If any of those sit with someone else, you need their cooperation. If the site is built on a proprietary platform, there may be nothing to move.
Not sure what you own?
Send us your domain and we will tell you what the public record says about who holds it. No charge, and no follow-up call if the answer turns out to be reassuring.