“We own our website” usually means “we paid for our website” — which is a different thing entirely. Ownership is four specific keys, and it’s common to discover that an organization holds none of them.

Key 1: The domain

The single most important asset. Whoever controls the registrar account controls whether your email arrives and where your name points. It must be registered to your organization’s account — not your developer’s, not the agency’s. Check: look up your domain’s WHOIS; if you can’t log into the registrar it names, start there. A domain in a vanished developer’s account is a genuine emergency with deadlines (domains expire).

Key 2: The hosting

Where the site physically runs. Your name on the account, your card on the billing, your ability to reset its password. Hosting in someone else’s account means your site exists at their pleasure — and dies with their unpaid invoice.

Key 3: The code

For custom work: a copy of the site’s code in a repository you can access, ideally with history. “It’s on the server” is one deleted account away from “it’s gone.” Ask for repository access in writing; a professional hands it over without friction, because the good ones plan their own exit.

Key 4: The content and data

The database — your pages, orders, users — plus uploaded files, and any backups. Where do backups live, who can restore them, and when was a restore last tested? An answer of “the host handles that” deserves one follow-up: show me.

Taking them back

Politely, in writing, one request: “We’re consolidating ownership of our accounts — please transfer domain, hosting, repository access, and a current backup by [date].” Most handoffs are boring. When one isn’t — silence, stalling, surprise invoices for your own property — that’s the hostage pattern, and it has a playbook.