How to move your website to a new developer
How to change web developer without losing your site, your domain, or your search rankings, what to gather before you give notice, and how to handle it if the handover goes badly.
To move your website to a new developer, gather your access first, then give notice, then transfer. Before you say anything, confirm you control the domain registrar, the hosting account, the analytics properties, and any content management logins. Then take a full backup, request a written handover, and only after all of that is secured should you end the arrangement. Doing it in the other order is what turns an ordinary change into an expensive one.
Changing developer is normal and usually uneventful. The problems that do occur are almost always caused by discovering, mid-transition, that something you assumed was yours is registered in someone else's name. That is avoidable with a week of preparation.
Before you tell anyone, check what you actually control
Work through four things, and treat each as unconfirmed until you have logged in yourself.
The domain. Log in to the registrar. If you cannot, or if you do not know which registrar it is, this is the first thing to resolve, because the domain is the only truly irreplaceable asset. Everything else can be rebuilt.
The hosting. Log in directly rather than through your developer. If the only route is asking them, the account is not yours.
Analytics and Search Console. Confirm you are listed as an owner, not merely a user someone added. Users can be removed by owners. Owners cannot be removed by users.
The site itself. Whatever admin or CMS login exists, confirm you have one at administrator level.
If all four check out, the move is straightforward. If one or more does not, read the ownership question properly before proceeding, because that is the situation that needs handling carefully.
Take a backup while relations are still good
Before you give notice, take your own copy of everything: a full export or download of the site files and database if you have access, all the content in a readable format, the original image files, and the logo in its source format.
This is not paranoia. It is the same reason you keep your own copy of your accounts. In the ordinary case you never need it, and in the rare bad case it is the difference between an inconvenience and starting over.
Give notice properly
Check your contract for a notice period and any terms about what happens at the end. Then put the notice in writing, keep it civil, and be specific about what you are asking for.
A reasonable handover request covers: transfer of the domain to your registrar account, transfer or closure of hosting, administrator access handed over, all source files and design assets, a list of any third-party services and licences in use, and confirmation of anything that will stop working once they step away.
Most developers handle this professionally. Being businesslike rather than accusatory makes that outcome considerably more likely, and you may want a reference or a favour from them later.
Protect the search rankings
This is where a badly handled move does lasting damage, and it is largely preventable.
If the site is staying the same and only the developer is changing, nothing should happen to your rankings at all. If the site is being rebuilt or moved to new hosting, then before anything goes live you need a map of every existing URL to its new equivalent, with 301 redirects in place. Skipping that step throws away years of accumulated search authority in a single afternoon, and it is the most common expensive mistake in this whole process.
Also confirm after the move that the site is not accidentally blocking search engines, since a noindex tag left on from a staging environment is easy to miss and completely silent.
What to hand your new developer
Make their first week easy and it usually goes better. Give them: registrar and hosting access, admin logins, analytics and Search Console access, the backup you took, any brand or design files, a note of what you want kept and what you want changed, and an honest account of what has been going wrong.
That last one matters more than people expect. A new developer who knows the actual history can avoid repeating it.
If the handover goes badly
Occasionally someone refuses to cooperate. If that happens, stay calm and remember what is actually at risk.
The domain is the only thing that genuinely cannot be recreated, so focus your effort there. Registrars have formal dispute processes for cases where a domain was registered on a client's behalf, and your evidence is your payment history and correspondence. Hosting can be replaced. Code can be rebuilt. Content you kept a copy of is not lost.
Keep everything in writing from the moment things turn difficult, and resist the urge to escalate emotionally. A calm paper trail is what resolves these situations.
Doing it right next time
Once you are through the move, set it up so this is never awkward again. Register the domain yourself, on an account in your business name. Open the hosting in your own name and add developers as users. Stay the owner of your analytics. And ask for written ownership terms at the proposal stage, before any invoice exists.
None of that costs anything meaningful. It just removes the entire category of problem.
See also: Who actually owns your website, Questions to ask before you hire a web designer, Website launch checklist.