Of all the messes we get called in to sort out, a domain in somebody else’s name is the worst one. A site can be rebuilt in a few weeks. Content can be retyped. A domain that somebody else controls can hold a business still for months, and occasionally it never comes back at all.
It usually is not malice. The web guy registered it on his own account eleven years ago because it was quicker, and now he has moved, or changed his email, or gone quiet. Nobody wrote anything down. The renewal notice goes to an address that no longer exists.
Four questions worth asking
Whose name is in the registrant field? Not the technical contact, not the billing contact. The registrant. That should be your business, with an email address that somebody at your business still reads. Anything else and you do not own the domain, you are borrowing it.
Can I log in and see it? If the answer involves somebody else logging in for you, that is a no. You want your own account at the registrar, with your own password, that you can reach on a Sunday without ringing anyone.
What happens if we stop working together? Ask it out loud, early, while everyone is still friendly. The answer you want is that transferring out is free and takes a day. If the answer is vague, that vagueness is the product.
Where does the renewal notice go? Domains lapse because an email went to somebody who left in 2019. Put a calendar reminder a month before renewal on a calendar somebody actually uses.
What good looks like
You hold the registrar account. Your developer has access to change the DNS records, which is the part that actually needs doing, and nothing else. Renewal is on autopay against a card that is not going to expire quietly. Somebody watches the date.
That is the whole arrangement. It costs around fifteen dollars a year, and it is the difference between hiring somebody and being held by them.
If you are not sure which situation you are in right now, the public record will tell you. Look up your own domain on any WHOIS lookup and read the registrant line. It takes a minute and it is worth knowing.