# How do we check who our domain is registered to, if a contractor built the site? | Illia BizTech

> The contractor from 2021 has stopped replying. All we have is a login for the site

Source: https://illia-biztech.de/en/forum/how-do-we-check-who-our-domain-is-registered-to-if-a-contractor-built-the-site

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# How do we check who our domain is registered to, if a contractor built the site?

The contractor from 2021 has stopped replying. All we have is a login for the site's admin area.

* ##### Asked on  
February 19, 2026

Our site was built in 2021 by one person working alone, and we were happy with it. He has now stopped answering emails, and we need to move to different hosting and change a couple of pages.

Looking into it, I realised I do not know who the domain is registered to at all. The hosting invoices went to him, we transferred money once a year and never asked. All we have is a login for the site's admin area.

How do I find out who owns the domain, and what do we do if it turns out not to be us?

#### Answers

![Portrait of Illia Belichenko, technical specialist at Illia BizTech](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Illia_Belichenko_author_81f88864f0.png)

##### Illia Belichenko

✓ Accepted answer February 20, 2026 

You can check that in a minute at DENIC, the registry for .de domains. It shows who is recorded as the holder.

The domain holder and whoever pays the invoices are two different roles, and a login for the site's admin area has nothing to do with the domain. Paying invoices creates no right either. So it is quite possible the domain is in his name and you have been paying for his renewals all along. Losing it would still hurt: it is several years old and has built something up in search.

Since he has stopped replying, the usual conversation about a transfer is off the table and the sequence is different. First a written demand to transfer the domain, dated and sent in a way that leaves proof of dispatch. If the domain matches your company name you have a right in that name, and with it you file a [dispute request](https://blog.denic.de/policy-erklart-wenn-es-hart-auf-hart-geht-im-streit-um-domains-hilft-denics-dispute-service/) with DENIC. That does not hand you the domain, but it blocks any transfer to a third party, and if you win the dispute you become the holder. It lasts a year and can be extended.

Establish in parallel where the domain physically sits. The provider is visible from old hosting invoices and from the DNS records. That is who you will be moving with, not the contractor who has disappeared.

A simple rule for the future. The domain, the hosting and the ad accounts are in the company's name, and the contractor gets access. It complicates nothing in the work and removes a whole class of problems from any change of supplier.

##### 

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