My web designer has disappeared. How do I get my website back?

By Kai M, Deliberate Design.

The short answer: work out what you own, in this order: the domain name, the email, the site files. The domain is the one that matters, because with it you can rebuild everything else in a day. Without it you start again under a new name.

Step 1: find out who owns the domain

Look it up at a WHOIS service or, for a .uk, at Nominet. If it is registered in your name, you can take control by contacting the registrar and proving who you are. If it is in the designer's name, go to step 3.

Step 2: save what is public

While the site is still up, save every page: the words, the photos, the prices. Print to PDF if nothing else. The Wayback Machine at web.archive.org may also have copies. This is your raw material for the rebuild.

Step 3: if the designer owns the domain

• Email, text and write to them. Keep copies. Ask for the domain to be transferred to you or for the transfer code
• For a .uk, Nominet can move a domain to you if you can show it was registered on your behalf. Invoices and emails help
• If they have vanished entirely, the domain lapses when the renewal is not paid. Set an alert and register it the day it drops

Step 4: email

If your email runs through the domain and you do not control the domain, set up a new address now and tell customers. Do not wait for the domain fight to finish.

Step 5: rebuild

A small site rebuilds in a day from the saved pages. Point the domain at the new one when you have it. This time, make sure the domain is in your name and you hold the login.

Stopping it happening again

Ask any designer, before paying: whose name is the domain in, where is it hosted, and what do I get if you stop trading. With us the domain is yours, you have a login to the site, and the files are yours on request.