My web developer isn't responding. How do I move to someone else?

If your web developer has stopped answering, you can usually move without them, as long as the domain is registered in your name. The .co.za registry emails the registrant directly to approve a move, and its rules say a registrar can't hold your domain over a dispute. The work is in doing things in the right order: find out who holds what, save what's on the site, protect your email, and only then move the domain.

Here are the steps, in that order. If you'd like us to do the move for you, our website service page explains how we work.

This is practical guidance, not legal advice.

Step 1: Give them one clear deadline, in writing

People go quiet for all sorts of reasons: illness, a family crisis, a business that's quietly folding. Before you move, send one message by email and one by WhatsApp that says what you need and by when. For example:

I'd like to move my website and domain to another provider. Please confirm by Friday 2 October that the domain is registered in my name, and send me an export of the site's content. If I don't hear from you, I'll start the transfer myself.

That's fair to them. It also gives you a dated record if there's a dispute later. Then get on with the next steps while you wait, because none of them need your developer.

Step 2: Find out who holds your domain

Look up your domain on the ZARC WHOIS. ZARC is the registry for .co.za, .org.za, .net.za and .web.za, and WHOIS is its public search of domain records. When we checked on 23 September 2026, a lookup showed:

• the registrar: the company your domain is registered through
• the expiry date
• the name servers: which company answers for the domain, and therefore controls where the website and email point

It didn't show the registrant's name or email. For those, it points you to the registrar. So call or email the registrar named in the lookup, explain that you're the business owner, and ask them to confirm the registrant name and email in writing.

Three things can turn up:

The domain is in your name, with your email. Good. You're in control, and you can skip to step 3.

It's in your name, but with the developer's email. Ask the registrar how to update the contact email. ZARC's published policies say a change to registrant details is made by the registrar at the registrant's request, and takes effect after a 5-day pending period, with notice emailed to the registrant. Expect the registrar to ask for proof that you are who you say you are.

It's in the developer's name. Then the domain is legally theirs until it's changed, and you need their cooperation or a formal route. See step 7.

Check the expiry date while you're there. If it's close and nobody renews it, the registry starts deleting the domain, and ZARC's registrant FAQ says that once deletion is complete the name "is now available to be registered by another person". If your developer was paying the renewal, ask the registrar how you can pay it yourself.

Step 3: Save everything on the site now

If the developer's hosting account lapses, the site can disappear overnight. Before anything else changes:

• Save the text of every page. Copy and paste into a document is fine.
• Download your images, especially photos of your own work.
• Note every page address (for example /services/plumbing). The new site should keep the same addresses, or send visitors from the old ones to the new ones, so Google and old links still find you.
• Note where the contact form sends its messages.

If you can still log in to the site's admin, look for an export option and use it.

Step 4: Protect your email before you touch the domain

This is the step people miss. If your email address ends in your domain (you@yourbusiness.co.za), your email depends on the domain's settings. Those settings are called DNS records. One type, the MX record, tells the internet which server receives your email.

When a domain moves to new name servers, those records have to be recreated there. If nobody copies them across, your email stops arriving, and you might not notice for a day.

So before any transfer:

1. Find out who provides your email. It might be Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, your old host, or the developer.
2. If it's the developer or their host, set up email elsewhere first.
3. Make a list of the current DNS records, or ask the new provider to read them off before anything changes.

Step 5: Take back your Google accounts

Your website isn't the only thing a developer may have set up in their own name.

• Google Business Profile (your listing on Google Maps). If someone else owns it, Google lets you request ownership. According to Google's help page, "the current profile owner is then notified by email and has 3 days to respond", and if there's no response you may be able to claim it.
• Google Search Console (Google's report on how your site appears in search). You don't need the old owner. Google lets several people verify the same site, and adding a DNS record proves you own the domain.
• Google Ads. If you advertise, make sure the account is in your name and billed to your card. When we manage ads, the account stays in the client's name.

Step 6: Get the new site ready, then move the domain

Don't move the domain first and build second. Get the new site working on a temporary address, check it, and then point the domain at it. That way there's no gap where visitors find nothing.

For a .co.za, the move itself goes like this, according to ZARC's policies (section 9) and FAQ:

1. You ask the new registrar to transfer the domain. Only the registrant can ask for this.
2. The registry emails the registrant a link to accept or deny, and notifies the old registrar.
3. If the registrant accepts, the domain moves. It moves straight away if the old registrar agrees too. If the old registrar says nothing or objects, it moves when the 5-day pending period ends.
4. If nobody responds within the 5 days, the transfer is rejected, and you start again.

This is why step 2 matters. The approval email goes to the registrant's email address on record.

ZARC's FAQ is clear on disputes: "Our policies do not allow a registrar to lock-in a registrant based on a contractual dispute, by denying or ignoring a transfer request of the registrant's domain." If you owe your old developer money, that's a matter between the two of you. It doesn't give them the right to keep your domain.

Step 7: If the domain is in the developer's name

Ask them in writing to change the registrant to you. Many will, once they understand you're leaving either way.

If they won't, or can't be found, the .za domain authority, ZADNA, runs an alternative dispute resolution process for abusive domain registrations. It starts with mediation, and if that fails an adjudicator decides. ZADNA lists the adjudicator fee as R10 000 for one adjudicator or R24 000 for a panel of three (checked September 2026). Before you go that route, speak to an attorney about whether your case fits.

How to avoid this next time

Whoever you hire next, get these in writing before you pay:

• the domain registered in your name, with your email as the registrant contact
• how you export your content and data, and whether you can do it yourself
• what you receive if you leave, and the notice period
• how quickly they reply

Our answers: the domain in your name, your content and data exportable any time, a static copy of the site's pages after 30 days' notice, and a reply within one working day. We keep the platform and code, licensed while you're subscribed. The full picture is in who owns your website.

Is moving to us the right call?

Maybe not. If your current site is on WordPress and you only need someone to take over the updates, look for a WordPress maintenance provider. We don't build on WordPress, so we'd rebuild the site on our platform rather than look after the old one.

If a rebuild makes sense, the steps are simple. We have a 20-minute call and send a fixed quote within two working days. You then see working pages on a private link from the first week. Prices are on our pricing page, and what a website costs in South Africa walks through them.

To start, see our website service, get an estimate on the price page, or WhatsApp us on +27 73 453 8352 with your domain name. We'll look up what the WHOIS shows before you commit to anything.