This is a typical worry / concern from website owners, one enquiry we received recently, went as follows:
I am looking for a new designer but need to know how I can take back all the hosting and control that has been handed over to the new designer. I know from dealing with him that he will be very difficult when I sack him so want to claw it all back an hour before I call him to end our relationship.
A typical reply could be:
I think it would probably be best to wait until you have a new designer in place. The reasons for this are twofold:
1. The transfer can take a few days and is dependent on the website designer / web hosting company releasing the domain. If things get nasty with the old website designer he could take down your website completely which means you wouldn’t have a live site – bad for business and bad for Google.
2. It’s likely any new designer would want you to transfer to his / her preferred host – though if you want them to use your own hosting then that’s your choice.