A code handover contract is not an annex remembered when the relationship sours. It is written on day one. A spoken claim that the source is yours means nothing against a personal repository and a plugin billed to the agency’s card.
The list is the written scope
The annex names the repository and organisation, production and test environments, the domain and DNS, hosting, third-party licences, ads and measurement accounts, store developer accounts, and where secrets live. Each line states whether the company is the owner or only has access. Account ownership is a column, not a hope. A missing line becomes a surprise invoice at handover.
Licences sit beside the code
If the theme, plugin, font, map or email service sits in the agency’s customer account, it stops when you leave. The licence is bought in the company’s name, or the contract says it can be transferred. A tool that cannot be transferred is chosen knowingly in the first release. It does not appear as a surprise.
Handover is a day’s work, not a favour
The acceptance test is plain. The company clones the repository, opens the environment with its own access, and ships one change from its own account. If that fails, handover is not finished. An item marked done on the queue is not done until the test passes. The sentence that code ownership stays with the company is not complete until then.
The work does not stop when the partner changes
HED Creative is the accountable partner in Berlin and Ankara and makes the handover list part of the contract. Exit is not drafted as a penalty. The work continues because access already sits with the company. Documentation is a short note beside the list, not a promise to explain if asked.
To ask for the list at the start, see IT partner. The sequence when the contract ends: partner exit plan.