Who Owns Your Website? Domain, Content and Access

You should own your domain, your content and your accounts, and you should have a clear written right to the design and a complete copy of your site if you leave. The risky part is that “my website” is really six different things, and each can be owned by someone different. Find out which, before there is a dispute.

Six things that make up your website

When owners say “I own my website”, they usually mean the pages they can see. Behind those pages sit separate assets, often controlled by different people.

Why design and code are different

Under general copyright principles, the person who creates a work often holds the copyright until it is assigned or licensed in writing. This is why a contract should say what you receive, such as ownership of the custom design or a licence to use it, and what you do not. Themes and plugins from third parties come with their own licences, so you may be able to use them but not hand them to someone else. Because the details vary, ask a lawyer if the site is important to your business.

The domain: the one you must not get wrong

Your domain is your address on the internet, and your Google listing, business cards and email depend on it. If it is registered in someone else’s name, they can in practice hold you to ransom or lose it. When you look up the domain registrant (the registered owner), you should see your name or your company, not a freelancer or an agency.

Website.sg’s plan does not include buying the domain, which means the domain is yours to register and hold. See the domain name guide for how.

Accounts and logins

Most of what a website does is tied to accounts: analytics, your Google Business Profile, your email service, social pages, payment tools and the platform you build on. Each should be created under your business email and, if a provider needs access, they should be added as a user. Never the other way round.

Questions to ask by type of provider

The right questions depend on who built the site. These are not accusations. They are the questions you would ask a landlord before renting a shop.

What to put in writing

You do not need a 40-page agreement. You need clear answers to a few questions, written down and signed or confirmed by email. Ask for them before the work starts, not at the end.

• Who owns the content you supply? You should.
• Who owns, or can use, the design and custom work? Ownership, or a lasting licence?
• Which accounts will be opened, and in whose name? Yours.
• What third-party tools are used and under which licences? Ask what happens if you leave.
• What do you get if you leave? A full copy of files, database and content, in a usable format.
• How long does a handover take, and is there a fee? Better to know now.

Red flags and good signs

Other warning signs include a provider who will not tell you where your site is hosted, who becomes slow to reply when you ask about access, or who says handover is “not possible” without a clear reason. None of these proves bad intent, but each deserves a direct question.

Run an ownership audit this week

You can check most of this yourself in an afternoon, without needing to read a contract in detail. The aim is to discover surprises now, while you still have time to fix them.

If the answers are vague or slow, do not panic. Follow up once politely, then start collecting your own evidence: invoices, screenshots of account pages and any emails that describe what was agreed.

Everyday habits that protect ownership

Ownership is not only about paperwork. Everyday habits decide whether you can act quickly when something goes wrong.

• Use a shared business mailbox such as admin@ or hello@ for account sign-ups, so access does not depend on one person’s inbox.
• Turn on two-step login for the registrar, the website platform and your Google account.
• Store passwords in a password manager, not in a chat thread or a sticky note.
• Keep a dated backup of the site files and your photos somewhere you control, and try opening it once a year.
• Calendar the renewals for the domain, hosting and any paid tools, with a reminder a month ahead.
• Review who has access every few months and remove anyone who no longer needs it.

If you inherit a site you did not build

Many owners take over a site from a previous director, a relative or an old provider. Start with the same audit, but add one step: work out what you cannot see. Look at the domain registrant, the email attached to each account and the billing history, because these show who has been paying and who holds the keys. If an account is under a person who has left, contact them politely with the evidence that the business owns the site, and ask the provider for their process for changing the account holder. Do this before anything breaks, not after, and keep a record of every request you make.

Your exit checklist

Plan the exit on day one. It is much easier to agree how to part when everyone is getting along. If you ever need to move, work through these steps in order.

A mini scenario

Daniel owns a small cleaning company. His freelancer built the site and bought the domain under his own name “to save time”. Two years later the freelancer stopped replying. The domain was about to expire, and Daniel had no login. It took weeks and a lot of stress to sort out. Had Daniel asked one question at the start, “Whose name is the domain in?”, the whole mess could have been avoided.

A second scenario: a restaurant and its agency

Imagine a small restaurant in Joo Chiat that hired a marketing agency to build a site and run its listings. The agency set up the Google Business Profile, the social pages and the booking tool under its own email, with the restaurant added as a staff member. When the owner later switched agencies, the old one still controlled the profile and the booking account, and the restaurant had to prove its identity to get them back. None of this involved bad behaviour. It simply followed the agency’s default way of working. The fix for next time is easy to state: create the accounts under the restaurant’s email and add the agency as a manager. This is an invented example.

Common mistakes

• Assuming “it’s my website” covers everything. Check each of the six assets separately.
• Using a staff member’s personal email as the registrant or account owner.
• Letting the domain auto-renew on an expired card. Renewal reminders go to whoever holds the login.
• Agreeing only by chat. A chat message is better than nothing, but a short signed or emailed confirmation is better.
• Paying a final invoice before getting the handover. Agree what is delivered at the end before the last payment.
• Never testing the backup. A copy you cannot open is not a copy.

For regulations that govern the personal data your site collects, which is a separate question from who owns the site, see the PDPA guide for website owners.

What a fair handover package looks like

If you ever leave a provider, a reasonable handover is easy to describe. You do not need to demand everything, but you should know what to ask for. Check each item against your agreement.

Ask how long a handover takes and in what format you will receive things. A pile of files you cannot open helps nobody, so ask for a short walkthrough, or at least a written list, so that the next provider can pick up quickly.

Special cases to ask about

Website builders and platforms

On Wix, Squarespace, Shopify and similar products you own your content and domain, but you generally cannot take the design or the platform features to another system. Moving means rebuilding the site elsewhere. That is not wrong, it is a trade-off, so know it going in.

Photos, fonts and stock images

Images and fonts are licensed. A photo that a designer found online may only be allowed for certain uses, and a font may need its own licence. Ask what was used, where it came from and whether the licence covers your business. Never assume that because it appears on your site, you are free to reuse it elsewhere.

Content written by others

If a copywriter or an AI tool drafted your text, check the terms of the service or agreement about who may use it. Keep a copy of the final wording yourself, outside the website.

Your Google Business Profile

Your Google listing is one of your most valuable assets and is often set up by whoever built the site. Make sure you are the primary owner and that anyone else is a manager. See how to verify your Google Business Profile.

Staff and freelancers who leave

When a team member who held a login departs, change the password and remove them from every account the same day. A short offboarding checklist is cheap insurance against locked-out or compromised accounts.

Before you commit to any provider, including us, ask what you own and how you can leave. For Website.sg, use the contact form and see the plan. More to read: domain name guide, hosting guide and Website.sg vs Wix, GoDaddy or a freelancer.