Imagine spending ₦500,000 or more on a business website. You have paid for the design, supplied your company information, approved the pages and watched the website go live. Your customers can now visit your website, send enquiries and learn about your services.
Everything appears to be in order.
Then, one day, you decide to change your web designer. Perhaps the relationship has become difficult, the person is no longer responding, or you simply want another professional to manage your website.
Your new developer asks for access to your domain account so they can update the DNS records.
You contact the previous designer, only to discover that the domain was registered using their personal email address. They control the account, receive the renewal notifications and have the login details.
You paid for the domain, but you cannot independently manage it.
This is a situation business owners should take seriously. Your domain name is not just another technical detail in your website project. It is part of your business identity, and losing control of it can affect your website, business email, customer communication and online reputation.
The important question is not simply whether your business has a domain name. It is whether your business is properly recorded as the domain registrant and can access and manage that registration.
When you register a domain name, you are not purchasing the internet address in the same way you would purchase a physical property. You are obtaining registration rights for a specific period, subject to the applicable registration agreement and domain policies.
The individual or organisation recorded as the registrant is the registered holder of the domain name.
According to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a registrant is the individual or entity that registers a domain name. The registrant enters into an agreement with the registrar and manages the registration through that registrar.
This distinction matters because the person who designed your website, configured your hosting or paid an invoice is not automatically the registered holder of the domain.
For example, consider a Nigerian company called Greenfield Technologies Limited. The company hires a freelancer to build its website and asks the freelancer to register greenfield.com.ng.
There are two possible arrangements:
Both arrangements might result in a working website. However, they create very different ownership and access situations.
In the second arrangement, the company could face difficulties proving and exercising its rights if the relationship with the freelancer breaks down.
There are legitimate reasons a web designer or IT professional might handle domain registration on behalf of a client.
Some business owners do not understand DNS, domain registrars or hosting accounts. They simply want someone to handle everything required to get their website online.
A developer might therefore offer a package that includes:
There is nothing inherently wrong with a professional managing these technical tasks. In fact, many businesses prefer to have one person handle the technical side of their website.
The problem begins when technical management becomes a substitute for proper ownership arrangements.
A developer can manage a domain without being its registered holder. A hosting company can configure DNS records without owning the domain. An IT consultant can maintain a website without having exclusive control over the business's digital identity.
These responsibilities should be clearly separated.
A business can delegate the work while retaining the authority and access it needs.
The consequences are not always immediate. Your website might operate normally for months or even years before the arrangement becomes a problem.
However, several situations can expose the risks.
Businesses change hosting providers for different reasons. A website may need more resources, better performance, a different server environment or a hosting arrangement that better supports its technical requirements.
Suppose your business wants to move from one hosting company to another.
Your new hosting provider may ask you to update your domain's nameservers or DNS records. If you cannot access the domain account, you may have to depend on the person who registered it to make those changes.
If that person is unavailable, uncooperative or no longer reachable, a straightforward hosting migration can become unnecessarily complicated.
Your hosting provider and domain registrar are separate services. Changing one does not automatically give you control over the other.
Many businesses use email addresses connected to their domain, such as info@yourcompany.com or accounts@yourcompany.com.
These addresses depend on DNS records, particularly MX records, to direct incoming email to the appropriate mail service.
If you lose access to your domain's DNS settings, you may be unable to make important email configuration changes independently.
For example, moving your business email to a new provider could require changes to MX records and other authentication records.
If the person controlling the domain account is unavailable, the migration may be delayed. Incorrect or unauthorised DNS changes could also interrupt email delivery.
This is why domain access should be treated as part of business email continuity, not just website management.
Your website depends on the domain being correctly registered and configured.
If the domain expires, is suspended or has its DNS records changed incorrectly, visitors may no longer reach your website as expected.
The same problem can affect services connected to the domain, including business email and other online applications.
If someone else controls the registration account, you may have limited ability to investigate or resolve the problem quickly.
A website can be restored after many technical failures, but resolving a domain registration dispute can be a much more complicated process.
Domain registrations have expiry dates. They must be renewed according to the registrar's and registry's applicable procedures.
When the account belongs to someone else, renewal reminders may be sent to that person's email address rather than your business email.
You might assume that your domain is being renewed because you paid for the website package or because your developer previously handled the renewal.
However, unless you have a clear agreement and reliable confirmation, you may not know whether the domain has actually been renewed.
A missed renewal can put your website and email at risk.
Every business should know when its domain expires, who is responsible for renewal and how renewal status can be independently verified.
A professional relationship should not determine whether you can continue using your own business domain.
Unfortunately, when the domain is registered under another person's details, changing developers can become more difficult than expected.
You may need to request access, ask for a transfer or resolve disagreements about who has the right to control the registration.
Even when the developer has no intention of causing problems, poor documentation and unclear ownership arrangements can create delays.
The best time to prevent this situation is before the domain is registered.
Domain disputes can become complicated, particularly when the person listed as the registrant is different from the person or company that believes it owns the domain.
Payment receipts, website design invoices and messages may help establish the history of an arrangement, but they do not automatically change the registrant information recorded by the registrar.
For generic top-level domains covered by ICANN policies, the registered name holder has an important role in authorising transfers. ICANN's transfer policy identifies the registered name holder as the party with authority to approve or deny an inter-registrar transfer, subject to the policy's provisions.
This is one reason businesses should not casually allow third parties to register important domains in their own names.
If a dispute has already developed, seek advice from the relevant registrar and, where necessary, a qualified legal professional. Do not assume that paying for a domain automatically gives you an immediate right to take control of an account registered to someone else.
If you already have a business website, take a few minutes to review your domain registration arrangements.
Start by identifying the registrar where the domain is registered.
For many generic domains, you can use ICANN's registration lookup service to find information about the domain and its registrar. Some registrant information may be redacted or protected by privacy services, so a public lookup may not reveal the full account details.
You should also contact your registrar or sign in to the account where the domain is managed.
Check the following:
1. Registrant name
Is the domain registered to you personally or to your registered business entity, where appropriate?
2. Registrant email address
Is the email address one that your business controls? Can your business continue accessing it if an employee or contractor leaves?
3. Registrar account access
Can you sign in to the account where the domain is managed? Do you know which email address is used for account recovery?
4. Renewal information
Do you know the domain's expiry date, renewal cost and payment arrangement?
5. DNS management
Can you access the DNS settings or identify the person who has permission to manage them?
6. Transfer requirements
Do you know how to request a domain transfer and obtain any required authorisation code?
For eligible generic domains, ICANN provides information about registrant rights and domain transfers. However, not every domain extension follows exactly the same rules. Country-code domains, including Nigeria's .ng domains, may have additional registry-specific requirements. Always confirm the applicable process with the registrar or registry responsible for your extension.
You do not have to become a domain expert to protect your business. You simply need to establish the right ownership and access arrangements.
Here are practical steps every business should consider.
Where the domain is intended for a registered company, use the company's correct registration and contact information in accordance with the registrar's requirements.
Avoid using a developer's personal name or email address as the registrant simply because they are handling the registration.
If you are a sole proprietor or individual business owner, use accurate details that you control and can maintain.
The objective is to ensure that the registration reflects the appropriate person or organisation with the rights to the domain.
Your business should have access to the account through which the domain is registered and managed.
If a developer needs to configure the domain, arrange access in a way that allows them to perform the required work without making them the sole person with control.
Where the registrar supports delegated users or different permission levels, use those features rather than sharing your primary account password.
Never make your business dependent on a contractor's personal email address for account recovery.
Your domain account's primary contact and recovery email should be an address that the business can reliably access.
For example, if your company uses a dedicated business email service, make sure the account used for domain administration remains accessible and does not depend on a single employee or contractor.
Consider maintaining a separate recovery email account that is not dependent on the domain being protected. This helps avoid a situation where losing the domain also prevents you from receiving account recovery messages.
A domain account can be a high-value target because access may allow someone to change DNS records, redirect website traffic or interfere with business email.
Use a strong, unique password and enable two-factor authentication wherever the registrar supports it.
Keep recovery codes in a secure location. Limit access to the account to people who genuinely need it.
Maintain a record of:
These records should be accessible to the appropriate business decision-makers, not stored only on a developer's personal computer or email account.
If a web designer or IT consultant is responsible for registering and managing your domain, document the arrangement.
Your agreement should explain:
This does not need to be unnecessarily complicated. A clear written agreement can prevent misunderstandings later.
If you have discovered that your developer or previous IT provider controls your domain account, do not panic.
The first step is to establish the actual registration arrangement.
Contact the person who registered the domain and request the registration details, registrar information and a clear account of who is listed as the registrant.
If the domain is registered to your business but managed through the developer's account, ask the registrar about the appropriate process for moving management access to an account controlled by your business.
If the developer is the registered holder, the situation requires more care. You may need to agree on a formal change of registrant or other transfer process, depending on the domain extension, registration agreement and applicable policies.
For generic domains covered by ICANN's transfer framework, a transfer between registrars and a change of registrant are not necessarily the same process. A registrar transfer changes the registrar responsible for the domain, while a change of registrant changes the registered holder.
Do not assume that moving the domain to another hosting company will automatically resolve a registrant ownership issue.
If the other party refuses to cooperate, speak with the registrar and obtain professional legal advice where necessary. Keep your invoices, payment evidence, agreements and communications.
Most importantly, avoid allowing the situation to continue without understanding who has the authority to manage the domain.
One reason domain ownership problems occur is that business owners treat everything connected to their website as one service.
In reality, these are separate components.
| Service | What it does |
|---|---|
| Domain registration | Reserves and manages your internet address for the registration period |
| Web hosting | Stores and serves your website's files and applications |
| DNS management | Directs your domain and subdomains to the relevant services |
| Website design | Creates the visual layout and functionality of your website |
| Business email hosting | Provides email services using your domain |
You could register a domain with one company, host your website with another, use a third provider for business email and hire an independent developer to maintain everything.
That arrangement is perfectly possible.
For example, a business could register its domain through SIRSTEVEHQ, host its website on SIRSTEVEHQ Cloud Hosting, and use SIRSTEVEHQ Email Hosting for professional email addresses.
The important thing is to understand which provider manages each service and ensure the business retains the appropriate access.
Changing your hosting provider should not mean losing your domain. Changing your web designer should not mean losing your website address. And changing your email provider should not require surrendering control of your domain.
Many Nigerian businesses rely heavily on freelancers, independent developers and small agencies to establish their online presence.
This is understandable. Not every business has an in-house IT department, and outsourcing website development is often more practical than hiring a full-time technical team.
However, business owners sometimes hand over every technical responsibility without establishing who should own the underlying digital assets.
A developer might register a .com, .com.ng or .ng domain on behalf of a client. The website goes live, the business begins promoting the address and customers start using it.
Over time, the domain becomes part of the company's identity.
It may appear on invoices, business cards, social media pages, email signatures, advertising materials and customer communications.
At that point, losing control of the domain is no longer a minor technical inconvenience. It can become an operational and commercial problem.
Small businesses should establish domain ownership arrangements from the beginning, even when they do not have the technical knowledge to manage DNS or hosting themselves.
You can outsource technical work without outsourcing responsibility for your business identity.
Your business domain is one of the digital assets that deserves proper attention from the beginning.
A website designer can build your website. An IT consultant can configure your DNS. A hosting provider can keep your website online. A domain registrar can manage the registration.
But your business should understand who the registered holder is, where the domain is managed and how to regain access when circumstances change.
If you have already registered a domain, check its registration details today. If you are about to hire someone to build your website, establish the ownership arrangement before the work begins.
A good web professional should have no problem explaining how your domain will be registered and how you will retain access.
Your business may change its website design, hosting provider, developers and technology over the years. Your domain should not become a bargaining tool every time one of those changes happens.
Build your website with professionals, but make sure your business retains control of its digital identity.
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to comment!