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Who owns your website: you or your web agency?
Your domain, your texts, the design: what can you take when you leave your web agency? What the law says, a two-minute test and eleven questions.
Not everything on your website is automatically yours. The texts and photos you made yourself remain yours. The domain name belongs to whoever is registered as its owner (the "holder") with DNS Belgium, and that isn't always the client. And the design and the code remain the property of whoever made them, the web designer or the agency, unless a written contract expressly transfers them to you. So what happens when you leave your web agency depends on your contract. Check it before you sign.
First, a disclosure: Kintsu itself builds websites on subscription. Below, we also discuss other agencies, and at the end you'll find how we handle it, including where twelve months come into play for us.
Who owns your domain name?
The holder: the person or business registered with DNS Belgium as the owner of the .be domain. You register it through an intermediary, the registrar: a hosting company or your web agency. But only the holder can request the transfer code, the code you need to move your domain to another registrar or transfer it to someone else. DNS Belgium sends that code to the holder's email address.
The risk: an agency that registers your domain "for you", but in its own name or with its own email address. If you fall out, if the agency goes bankrupt or if it stops responding, you're stuck.
A two-minute test: request a transfer code yourself at dnsbelgium.be. If you get the email, you're registered as the holder with your own email address. If you don't, the email has gone to whoever is registered as the holder, often your web agency. That's not a problem, but it's better to know in advance. Then ask your agency to explain. Requesting a code doesn't change anything about your domain; the code stays valid for seven days.
Is the domain in your agency's name? Ask the agency to transfer it to you: the agency requests the transfer code and gives it to you, and your registrar puts the domain in your name. Put that agreement in writing. If the agency refuses, DNS Belgium won't decide the matter. You can then go to court, or to CEPANI, the Belgian centre for arbitration and mediation.
Not a .be domain? DNS Belgium also manages .vlaanderen and .brussels; for those, you ask your registrar for the code. For .eu, .com and other extensions, you also go through your registrar, and there too you need a transfer code.
Who owns your texts and photos?
Whoever created them. Copyright arises automatically, without you having to register anything.
Did you write the texts or take the photos yourself? Then they're yours, whatever happens to your site.
Did the agency or a copywriter write them? Then you have the rights set out in the contract.
Do the photos come from a photographer or a stock library? Then the licence determines what you're allowed to do. Check whose name it's in: sometimes it's the agency's.
Are there people in the photos, such as your staff or your customers? Then you also need their consent to show the photo, regardless of copyright.
Who owns the design and the code?
Whoever made them, unless the contract says otherwise. Belgian copyright law is strict on the party commissioning the work:
A contract with the creator must be in writing, and it's read strictly: what isn't in it, you don't get.
If you commission a website as a business, the agency can transfer the rights to you. But only if the contract expressly says so.
For the code, only an employer automatically gets the rights to what its own employees program. A freelancer or an agency keeps them, unless the contract says otherwise.
If your contract says nothing about copyright, you may use the site as agreed, but the design isn't yours. You only find that out when you want to move.
And then there's the platform. Wix says your content is yours, but you can't move your site to another hosting company: it only runs on Wix. You can take your texts with you, but not the site.
What happens when you cancel a website subscription?
Three examples from Belgian agencies, as they state it on their own sites on 4 November 2026:
The site goes offline. Jitware has no minimum term, but when the subscription stops, so do the hosting and the included services. Taking over or buying out the site requires a separate agreement. Your domain and the material you supplied yourself remain yours.
You buy out the site. At Covents Solutions, you sign up for at least 12 months. After that, you can buy out the site for €750 (excl. VAT). Your domain is in your name.
You get a copy. At Pastel Studio, you also sign up for 12 months. If you leave, the site goes offline or you get an export, a copy of your site. Moving it to another provider isn't included in the subscription.
None of these arrangements is unfair. The problem is that you often only read them when you want to leave.
If you buy a site from an agency as a one-off, check whether the contract transfers the copyright on the design and code to you, or only gives you the right to use the site.
Eleven questions to ask before you sign
In whose name is the domain name registered, and with which email address?
Which registrar is the domain with, and who pays for the renewal?
Who owns the texts and photos, and whose name are the licences in?
Does the copyright on the design and code pass to you, or are you only allowed to use them? Is that in writing?
What's the minimum term you sign up for, and what's the notice period?
What happens to the site if you leave: does it go offline, do you buy it out (for how much?), or do you get a copy?
What's in that copy: just your texts, or the whole site with its design?
Is your email with the same agency? Then first set up a new mailbox and move your emails, before you change anything about your domain.
Will your web addresses keep working if you move, so you don't lose your Google ranking?
Who has the passwords and admin access: registrar, hosting, analytics, Google Search Console?
Do you have a data processing agreement, the contract on how the agency protects your customers' data? And do you get your customers' messages and appointments when you leave, and are they deleted afterwards?
To find out how to move without losing your Google ranking, read our step-by-step guide to moving your site.
How does Kintsu handle it?
Kintsu itself builds websites on subscription. This is how we handle it:
Your content and your domain are always yours. You always get your texts, photos and other content as files, even if you leave after one month. You buy your domain yourself, in your name, from a registrar of your choice.
You can take the design, meaning the complete site as it looks, with you after twelve paid months. So twelve months come into play with us too. If you leave earlier, you get your content, but not the design.
Cancel at the end of any month if you pay monthly; if you pay yearly, you need to cancel at least one month before the renewal date. There's no setup fee.
If you want everything in your own hands, including the hosting and the code, your own WordPress site with your own hosting company gives you the most freedom; but then you do the maintenance yourself. You'll find what Kintsu costs and what's included on the pricing page.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Have an important contract checked by a lawyer.
Sources
All sources accessed on 4 November 2026.
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