Who Owns Your Website? Domain, Hosting and Code

Every few months someone sends me the same message: "Our old web guy stopped answering, the site is down, and we can't log in to anything." Sometimes the domain is registered in his name. Sometimes the hosting is on his personal card. Sometimes nobody even knows where the site lives. The business paid for a website, but it never actually owned it. If you are about to hire a web designer, this is the cheapest problem you will ever solve, because you solve it with a few sentences in the contract and ten minutes at handover.

A website is really five things, and each one has an owner

When people say "my website", they usually mean the pages they see. Underneath, there are separate pieces, and each can belong to a different person or company. Before you sign anything, know which is which.

A healthy setup is boring: the business is the owner of all five, and the designer gets access to do the work. An unhealthy setup is the reverse: the designer owns, and the business gets a login if it asks nicely.

The domain: make sure your company is the registrant

The domain is the piece that hurts most to lose, because your address is printed on vans, menus and business cards, and Google has years of history attached to it. ICANN, which sets the rules for generic domains like .com, lists the registrant's own responsibilities plainly: give accurate contact details, keep them current, and keep payment details up to date if you use auto-renewal. That only works if the registrant is actually you.

For .bg domains, the registry is strict about identity: registrars point out that the registrant's details must match the company registration exactly, and companies must provide a VAT number and a legal representative. That is good news, because it means a .bg domain registered properly for your company is hard to quietly take. It is bad news if the designer registered it under his own name "to save time", because changing the holder later means paperwork and signatures from him.

Also note that transfer rules for generic domains are being revised: in 2025 ICANN's GNSO Council approved recommendations that, once implemented, replace the familiar 60-day transfer lock with a shorter 30-day one. Whatever the exact rules at your registrar today, the lesson is the same: a transfer needs the registrant's cooperation and can take days, so don't leave it for the day the site goes down.

Hosting: whose card, whose account, whose backups

Many designers resell hosting, and that is fine. It can be cheaper and it means one person to call. The question is what happens if you leave. Ask three things: whose name is on the hosting account, can you get a full backup (files plus database) whenever you ask, and how much notice you get before anything is switched off.

There is also a legal side. If your site has a contact form, bookings or a shop, the hosting company processes personal data on your behalf. Under Article 28 of the GDPR, that relationship needs a written contract: the processor acts only on your instructions, keeps the data secure, and deletes or returns all personal data at the end of the service. Reputable hosts publish a data processing agreement; ask for it.

Code and design: who holds the copyright

This is the part almost nobody reads. In Bulgaria, Article 42 of the Copyright and Related Rights Act says that copyright in a work created on commission belongs to the author unless the contract says otherwise; without such a clause, the client may use the work only for the purpose it was ordered for. In plain words: if your contract is silent, the designer still owns the design and code, and you have a right to use it as a website. That may be enough for day-to-day life, but it gets messy when you want another developer to change it, reuse the design in print, or sell the business.

The fix is one clear clause. Either the rights are transferred to you once you pay in full, or you get a broad, perpetual licence to use, modify and have others modify the work. Some parts can't be transferred because they aren't the designer's to give: WordPress itself, open-source plugins, premium themes, fonts and stock photos all come with their own licences. A good contract simply lists them.

If the contract is silent, the website you paid for is something you're allowed to use, not something you own.— the practical effect of the default rule for commissioned work in Bulgaria

I'm not a lawyer, and for a big project it's worth having one read the contract. But for a small business site, you don't need ten pages. You need the clause to exist.

The accounts nobody thinks about

The website is often the least of it. The painful lock-outs I see are around the edges: a business email on a domain nobody can manage, a Google Business Profile created with the designer's Gmail, analytics and Search Console tied to an agency account, a payment gateway registered with someone else's phone number. Each of these should be created with an address your business controls (ideally a shared one like office@ rather than a single employee's), with the designer added as a user or manager.

• Business email and the DNS records behind it
• Google Business Profile (you as owner, designer as manager)
• Google Search Console and analytics (your account, designer as user)
• Payment, invoicing and courier integrations for a shop
• Cookie consent tool, forms service, newsletter tool

What to put in the contract (and ask before you sign)

You don't need to sound like a lawyer. These are the questions I'd want any client to ask me, and the answers you want in writing:

1. "Will the domain be registered in my company's name?" The answer should be yes, with your company as registrant.
2. "Whose name is the hosting under, and can I get a full backup on request?" Either yours, or handed over on request with a backup at no extra charge beyond agreed hourly work.
3. "Who owns the design and custom code after I pay?" Look for a transfer of rights or a broad licence to use and modify.
4. "Which parts have their own licences?" Themes, plugins, fonts and photos should be listed, with who pays for renewals.
5. "What do I get at the end?" Admin logins, hosting and domain access, a backup, and a short document of where everything is.
6. "What happens if we stop working together?" A notice period and a clean handover, not a hostage situation.

Already have a site? A 20-minute ownership check

If your website already exists, do this today. It takes about twenty minutes and you only have to do it once.

1. Find out who your domain registrar is and who is listed as registrant. Make sure the renewal date is in your calendar.
2. Log in to the hosting control panel yourself. If you can't, ask for access.
3. Download a full backup, or ask for one, and store it somewhere that isn't the same server.
4. Log in to the website admin with your own account, with full administrator rights.
5. Check that Google Business Profile, Search Console and analytics list your business email as owner.
6. Find the contract and look for the words "copyright", "rights" or "licence". If nothing is there, ask for a short written addendum.
7. Write all of it in one document, and keep passwords in a password manager, not in that document.

While you're at it, run the free website check. It won't tell you who owns your domain, but it will show you the other things a new owner of the site would want to know: speed, mobile, basic SEO and accessibility issues.

How I handle ownership on my projects

Since I'm asking you to demand this from any designer, here is how I do it. The domain is registered in the client's name. Hosting is either the client's own account or set up so it can be handed over at any time. When the final invoice is paid, the client receives the rights to the design and custom code, a list of third-party licences, admin access and a backup. Websites start from €890, go live in 2–5 weeks, and include 3 months of free care, so you are not left alone on launch day, but you are never locked in either.

If you're planning a new site, have a look at how my web design projects work, or if you're a Bulgarian business comparing options, at my page on hiring a web designer in Bulgaria. And if you already have a site and aren't sure what state it's in, start with the free check, then send me what you found.