Leaving an Agency: Handover Checklist

Before you leave an agency, make sure your business owns, or has administrator access to, your domain, hosting, website, code, analytics, advertising accounts and brand files, and change every password after the handover. Agencies often set these up in their own name for convenience, and recovering them after the relationship ends is far harder than transferring them before.

Start with ownership, not files

Files can be copied at any time. Account ownership is what gets businesses stuck. The goal is simple: every account is registered to your business, and the agency has access that you can remove, not the other way round.

The checklist

Domain and DNS

• The domain registered to your business, in an account you control
• A login for the domain registrar, with two-factor authentication on your own device
• DNS records documented, including email records such as SPF and DKIM

Hosting and website

• A hosting account in your name, billed to your payment method
• Administrator access to your website’s content management system
• A recent full backup of the files and database, stored somewhere you control
• Source code in a repository your business owns, if the site is custom built
• A list of plugins, themes and licences, and who pays for each

Analytics and search

• Your business as owner of Google Analytics and Google Search Console, not just a user
• Access to Google Tag Manager, if it is used
• Your Google Business Profile owned by the business

Advertising

• Google Ads, Meta and other ad accounts owned by your business, with the agency removed or its access reduced
• Billing on your own payment method
• Campaign history kept in your account, not in an agency account you will lose

Brand and design

• Logo and brand source files in every format
• Design files, such as Figma projects, moved to your team’s account
• Font, stock image and software licences in your name
• Written confirmation that ownership of the work has transferred

Email, social and tools

• Administrator access to business email, such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365
• Social media accounts with your business as owner
• Access to your CRM, email marketing and automation tools

Do it in this order

1. Review your contract for notice periods, ownership clauses and any outstanding payments
2. Ask for a written inventory of every account and asset the agency manages for you
3. Transfer ownership of each account while the relationship is still cooperative
4. Take full backups of the website and export key data
5. Change every password, and remove or reduce the agency’s access
6. Check nothing broke: forms, email delivery, analytics tracking and ad billing

Common problems and how to avoid them

• The domain is registered to the agency. Ask for a transfer to your own registrar account before you give notice.
• The agency owns your analytics. Ask to be added as an administrator and then given ownership, so you keep your history.
• Licences are in the agency’s name. Plan to buy your own, because many commercial licences cannot be transferred.
• Nobody documented the custom code. Ask for a short technical handover note on how the site is built and deployed.

Common questions

Can an agency refuse to hand over my website?

It depends on your contract and whether your invoices are paid. Ownership clauses and whose name the accounts are registered in decide most disputes, which is why checking them early matters.

Should the new agency handle the handover?

They can help, but your business should hold the ownership. Avoid swapping one agency-controlled setup for another.

How we set things up

When we build a website, we recommend registering the domain, hosting and analytics in the client’s own accounts from day one, so a future handover is never an obstacle. If you are taking over a site from someone else, our website security service can audit who has access and lock it down.