What to ask for when you leave your web designer
One email, eleven items, and the order to do things in so nothing goes dark on switch day.
- Ask while the relationship is still fine. A polite email with a numbered list, sent before you announce you are leaving, gets answered far more often than the same list sent afterwards.
- Access first, files second. Control of the domain, the DNS and the Google accounts is what actually protects you; the design files are nice to have and, on Wix or Squarespace, mostly do not exist.
- Copyright does not move on its own. Under UK law the author owns the work unless there is a written, signed assignment, so ask for one line in writing rather than assuming you bought it.
Most handovers go wrong in the same two ways: people ask for the wrong things, and they ask at the wrong time. The wrong things are usually files, which are often worthless or nonexistent. The right things are logins and control. And the right time is before you have told anyone you are leaving, when the request still looks like ordinary housekeeping rather than the opening move in an argument.
So here is the list I would send, as one email, with a sentence at the top saying you are tidying up your records. If you already cannot reach them, skip to my web designer has disappeared, which is the recovery version of this page.
The list, in one email
| Ask for | Why it matters | What done looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Domain registrar account access, or the domain moved into my own account | Without it you do not control your address or your email | You can log in and see the domain, and the registrant name is yours |
| Confirmation of who the registrant is, in writing | The registrant is the legal holder, not whoever pays the invoice | A line naming your name or company as registrant |
| DNS control, or a full export of the current DNS records | Every switch depends on being able to repoint records without downtime | A screenshot or export of A, CNAME, MX and TXT records |
| Hosting control panel login, or a full copy of the site files and database | This is the site itself on a self-hosted build | A zip of the files and an SQL dump, or the cPanel login |
| CMS admin login at owner level | Contributor access is not ownership and can be revoked | Your own account, role 'owner' or 'administrator' |
| Email accounts and mailbox data | Email usually rides on the same domain and breaks first | Where mail is hosted, how many mailboxes, and who pays for them |
| Primary ownership of the Google Business Profile | Managers can be removed by the owner; owners cannot | Your Google account listed as Primary Owner |
| Google Analytics and Search Console access, with history | Years of data, and the only record of what was working | Admin on the property, not view-only on someone else's |
| Logo and design source files, plus any font and image licences | Licences are often bought in the agency's name and do not transfer | Vector logo files and the licence documents or receipts |
| Third party accounts in your name: booking, payments, chat, review tools | These carry customer data and recurring charges | Login reset to your own email address |
| A written assignment of copyright in the work you paid for | Under UK law an assignment has to be in writing and signed | One signed line or paragraph, dated |
The copyright and registrant items are the two people most often skip, and the two that cause the most trouble later. Both are a single sentence to ask for and awkward to get afterwards.
Access first, files second
If you only get three things, get the domain, the DNS and primary ownership of your Google Business Profile. Those three are the ones that are genuinely hard to replace and genuinely damaging to lose. A website can be rebuilt in days. A domain in someone else's name, a profile where you are only a manager, and a set of DNS records nobody can edit will stop your phone ringing while you sort them out.
On the Google Business Profile in particular, check the role rather than assuming: managers can be removed by an owner at any time, and plenty of businesses discover on the day they leave that the agency is the primary owner of the listing they have spent years collecting reviews on. If you are not the primary owner, ask for a transfer now. If the profile was never verified properly in the first place, how to verify your Google Business Profile covers that.
Copyright: the bit people skip
Paying an invoice for a website does not, by itself, make you the owner of the copyright in it. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 says "The author of a work is the first owner of any copyright in it", with one big exception: where a work "is made by an employee in the course of his employment, his employer is the first owner". A freelancer or an agency is not your employee. So unless something says otherwise, the designer owns the design.
And it cannot be fixed by a handshake, because the same Act is explicit that "An assignment of copyright is not effective unless it is in writing signed by or on behalf of the assignor". That is a low bar. It does not need a solicitor; it needs a sentence. Something like: "[Designer] assigns to [your business] all copyright and design rights in the website, graphics and code produced under our agreement, with effect from [date]." Signed, dated, kept with your records.
Two things you almost certainly do already own, whatever the contract says: your own words and your own photographs, if you supplied them. Stock images and licensed fonts are the opposite case. Those are usually licensed to whoever bought them, and a licence bought in the agency's name does not automatically become yours, which is why the licences are on the list above.
What you can actually get off a website builder
If your site is on Wix or Squarespace, temper the file request, because much of what you would want does not exist in portable form. This is not the designer being awkward, it is the platform.
| Wix | Squarespace | |
|---|---|---|
| The site itself | Not exportable. Wix says the site "needs to be hosted and operated on Wix's servers" | Site content exports to an .xml file |
| Blog posts | "Currently, it is not possible to export blog posts to other platforms" | Included in the .xml export |
| Products | Store product list exports to CSV | Products export to a .csv file |
| Contacts and mailing lists | CMS collection content exports to CSV | Contacts export to .csv, individually or in bulk |
| Images and video | No bulk export | "It's not possible to export images or uploaded videos from your site in bulk" |
| The domain | Can be transferred away with an EPP code | Can be transferred away or pointed elsewhere |
Quotations from Wix's own support article on hosting elsewhere and Squarespace's importing and exporting guide, checked on 21 September 2026. Squarespace also warns that its own export can cause broken image links when imported elsewhere.
So on a builder, the realistic ask is: the domain, the text, the product and contact CSVs, your images downloaded one by one or supplied from the originals, and the login until you have finished copying. Then you rebuild rather than migrate. Plan for that from the start instead of discovering it on the last day.
The order of operations on switch day
- Renew the domain first, for two years if you can. Nothing else on this list matters if it expires mid-move.
- Lower the DNS TTL to 300 seconds a day or two before the switch, so changes propagate in minutes rather than hours.
- Build and check the new site on a temporary URL. Never point the domain at something you have not seen working.
- Deal with email before you touch anything. If mailboxes move, set up the new ones and copy the mail across first; the MX record is the last thing you change, not the first.
- Export the full DNS record set and rebuild it at the new host exactly, including TXT records for SPF, DKIM and any domain verification. These are the records people forget, and forgetting them is why the email starts bouncing.
- Map your old URLs to new ones and set 301 redirects for every page that changes address, so the rankings and links you have built follow you.
- Switch the DNS, then watch. Test the site, send and receive a test email, and submit the new sitemap in Search Console.
- Keep the old hosting running for 30 days. It costs very little and it is the only easy way back if something turns out to be missing.
Do not cancel anything until the new setup has been live and working for a couple of weeks. Cancelled hosting is usually deleted hosting, and the one file you did not copy will be on it.
If they will not hand it over
Ask once, politely, in writing, with a date. Most of the time that is enough, because most designers are not obstructive, they are just busy. If you get nothing back, the recovery routes are set out in my web designer has disappeared, and the mechanics of moving a .uk domain without their help are in how to transfer a .uk domain name.
The reason any of this bites is that most small businesses never checked what they owned in the first place. That is the bigger question, and it is in do you actually own your website. If you want the move handled for you, hosting, DNS, redirects and all, that is part of every site I build, from £199.
Sources
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 11: first ownership of copyright
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 90: assignment of copyright
- Wix Help Centre: exporting or embedding your Wix site elsewhere
- Wix Help Centre: exporting blog posts to other platforms
- Squarespace Help Centre: importing and exporting content
- Nominet, The UK Domain: can I switch registrar?
Common questions.
What should I ask my web designer for when I leave?
Access before files: the domain registrar login with the domain in your own name, DNS control or a full record export, hosting or the site files and database, owner-level CMS access, your email accounts, primary ownership of your Google Business Profile, admin on Analytics and Search Console, logo source files with any font and image licences, third party accounts moved to your email, and a written assignment of copyright.
Do I own the copyright in a website I paid for?
Not automatically. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 makes the author the first owner unless the work was made by an employee in the course of employment, and it says an assignment is only effective if it is in writing and signed. A freelancer or agency is not your employee, so ask for a signed line assigning the rights to you. You do own your own text and any photographs you supplied.
How do I move my website without downtime?
Renew the domain, lower the DNS TTL a day or two ahead, build and test the new site on a temporary URL, sort email and copy the full DNS record set including SPF and DKIM TXT records, set 301 redirects for every changed URL, then switch DNS and test. Keep the old hosting running for about 30 days afterwards.
Should I tell my web designer I am leaving before asking for access?
Ask first, tell second. A numbered list framed as tidying up your records is routine and usually gets answered within a week. The same list arriving after a notice email reads as a dispute. Once you have the domain, the DNS and your Google accounts, the timing of the conversation matters much less.