Your former developer holds your domain: what to do

It happens often. A freelancer or an agency built your website, registered everything in their own name to save time, then stopped answering. The site still runs, but you can't change anything, and you don't know who pays for what.

This guide covers what to check, in what order, and what each route costs. It is not legal advice. The rules cited are those in force in October 2026.

1. Find out whose name the domain is in

This one detail decides everything else.

• For a .ca, look the domain up in CIRA's WHOIS. The registrar and the creation and expiry dates are always visible. The registrant's name shows when it's an organization, and is hidden by default when it's an individual. In that case, CIRA can forward them a message without giving you their details.
• For a .com, use ICANN's lookup tool. You'll see the registrar, the dates and the name servers; contact details are often replaced by "REDACTED".

Write down the expiry date. A domain that isn't renewed eventually becomes free again, and then anyone can register it.

If the registrant shown is your business, go to section 2. If it's a hidden individual, or your former provider's name, go to section 3.

2. The domain is in your name, the account isn't

This is the easiest case, even if it doesn't feel like it.

• You have the last word. For a .ca, CIRA's agreement says that in a dispute between the registrant and the administrative contact, the registrant prevails (Registrant Agreement v2.3, s. 3.5(a)). A developer listed as administrative contact acts for you, not instead of you.
• The registrar can give you access back. At GoDaddy, for example, there is a recovery form for a registrant who can no longer get into the account. It asks for colour photo ID and, if a business is on the account, business documents. Articles of incorporation are not accepted.
• Then move it to your own account. The current registrar must give you the authorization code within five days, for a .ca as for a .com. For a .com, it can't withhold it over an unpaid invoice alone. A domain registered or transferred less than 60 days ago generally can't change registrar.

3. The domain is in your former developer's name

First, ask precisely

A vague request goes unanswered. Name the tool to use: they won't have to look up how.

• GoDaddy: "Account change". They enter your email, you accept within ten days. DNS settings carry over; the website and email don't.
• Webflow: transfer the site to your workspace. The plan and custom domain only follow from a Freelancer or Agency workspace; otherwise the site has to drop to the Starter plan first.
• Wix: "Transfer site", to accept within three days.
• Squarespace: only the owner can transfer, and only to someone already added as a contributor.

For a .com, a change of registrant then locks the domain at the same registrar for 60 days, unless that lock is declined before the request. ICANN adopted new transfer rules in June 2026, but with no effective date: the current rules still apply.

If they refuse: what platforms do, and don't

• GoDaddy does not settle disputes between two parties. It follows court orders. We found no process that lets a business claim a domain registered in someone else's name.
• Webflow does not transfer an agency's account to its client. According to its help centre, it can let you take over billing so the site stays online, and release the domain if you prove it's yours. It does not mediate.

The domain name dispute

For a .ca, it's CIRA's CDRP. You have to show:

1. that the domain is confusingly similar to a mark you had rights in before it was registered, and still have;
2. that it was registered in bad faith;
3. and give some evidence that the registrant has no legitimate interest.

At CIIDRC, from September 1, 2026, a dispute over one or two domains costs a $1,500 filing fee, plus $1,850 for a single panelist or $3,000 for three, plus tax. The registrant has 20 days to respond. One undefended case was decided in about five weeks.

For a .com, it's the UDRP. At WIPO, a dispute over one to five domains costs US$1,500 with one panelist, US$4,000 with three.

Panels know the case of a developer holding a client's domain, and it can go either way. In 2013, a panelist ordered the transfer of a domain a developer was holding to get paid: he had acted as his client's agent and had no lien on it (Alaska Health Fair v. Jacobson). In 2016, another declined to decide, seeing a business dispute broader than the domain (Roger Martin v. Blevins). The more your case is only about the domain, the stronger it is.

That leaves court, for which you need a lawyer.

4. The domain is not the website

Getting the domain back doesn't give you the code or the design.

• Copyright belongs to the author. Under the Copyright Act (s. 13), the author is the first owner, unless they are your employee. An assignment is only valid in writing and signed. Without an assignment clause in your contract, the freelancer probably keeps the rights to the code and design they created.
• For WordPress, the real key is the hosting. Without the admin email, every way of regaining control goes through the hosting: the database, FTP or the command line.

When the code stays out of reach, what's left is rebuilding. The text and images you supplied are usually yours; your contract says for sure. What each option costs: Webflow, Wix, WordPress or custom.

So it doesn't happen again

• The domain is registered in the business's name, in an account you own
• Hosting and licences are billed to the business's card
• The contract has a written, signed assignment of copyright
• You have your own admin access to every tool, not just the provider's

Sources

• CIRA WHOIS and contact a domain holder, CIRA
• Registrant Agreement v2.3 (August 2025), CIRA
• How to transfer a .ca domain, CIRA
• Transfer Policy and June 7, 2026 resolution, ICANN
• Regain access to a domain, account change and complaint mechanisms, GoDaddy
• Transfer a site to another workspace and guide for clients of agencies, Webflow
• Transferring a Wix site, Wix; change the site owner, Squarespace
• CDRP fee schedule, CIIDRC; UDRP fees, WIPO
• Alaska Health Fair v. Jacobson, Forum, 2013; Roger Martin v. Blevins, WIPO, 2016
• Copyright Act, s. 13, Justice Canada
• Reset your password, WordPress

If you'd rather we investigate for you, it's a separate service: website recovery. You get a written report, site by site, with the route to try first.