Can I hold back files, or switch off a website, until I'm paid?
The short answer
Files, usually. You can keep what you have not handed over until the balance is paid, unless your terms make you deliver first. A live site, no: switching it off can breach your contract, and using their logins to lock them out can be an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 19905, even for a short time. Unless you have signed the copyright over in writing1, you still own it, so your quote can make their licence to use the work start on payment.
England and Wales only. WolfX is software, not a law firm.
What you can add
A £3,250 balance, 55 days late
Say you built a website for another business for £6,500. They paid £3,250 up front. The £3,250 balance was due on 14 August 2026, and on 8 October it is still unpaid: 55 days late. Interest is 8% over the Bank of England base rate9: 11.75% a year11 for anything that went late between 1 July and 31 December 2026.
Then it grows by £1.05 a day, whether the site is up or not. A shutdown your contract does not allow is a breach, and they can claim what it cost them. A court can also cut or cancel the interest12 if your conduct makes that fair.
The road ahead
Seven steps. All free.
Step 1: Sort what you hold from what is live
Keep back what you have not sent: final files, source files, licence keys. Leave a running site alone unless your terms let you pause it. Their accounts, domain, brand files and customers' data are not yours to hold.
A printed run or a sign is goods. Unless you agreed otherwise, delivery and payment go together7, and an unpaid seller may keep them8 once any credit term has run out. Files and live sites are a contract question.
Step 2: Keep out of their accounts
Using logins they gave you for the work to lock them out can be an offence under section 3 of the Computer Misuse Act 19905. It turns on who is responsible for that computer, and whether they agreed6.
A public 'unpaid' notice on their site is an edit they did not agree to. On your own server the test differs, but a shutdown your agreement does not allow is still a breach.
Step 3: Read what you signed
Look for four things: when the balance falls due against when you hand over; a line saying files or the licence pass on payment; a signed copyright assignment; a hosting suspension clause and its notice period.
If the balance falls due before you hand over, a hold is usually fine. If it falls due after, holding back can be your own breach. Either way, the terms you signed decide it.
Step 4: Check what they may do with the work
Copyright passes only by a signed, written assignment1; until then the maker owns it2. Even so, a court may find the client can use the work for what it was made for3: owning it does not stop them.
A licence can be limited in any way4, so it can start on payment. Put that in the quote before the work goes out, and make sure the client has seen it: a later addition does not usually bind them.
Step 5: Send the email, with a date
Use the email below: the files are ready, they are sent on payment, the interest and fixed sum are added, and there is one pay-by date. Work out the interest to the day as the sum above does, and attach a new invoice for the extra.
Expect a payment, or a reply that says what is wrong. Either gives you something dated to act on.
Step 6: Pause hosting only as your terms allow
If your signed terms let you suspend hosting for non-payment, give the notice they name in writing and do nothing before the date you gave. A hosting agreement may cover unpaid hosting fees only, not a build balance, so check which debt it names. No clause, or no notice given, means the site stays up.
Step 7: Still unpaid? Send a letter before action
A letter before action is the last letter before a court claim. It sets a date to reply, and a company and a sole trader get different times. The claim then asks a court for the invoice, interest and fixed sum. Neither needs the site switched off.
A letter you can copy
Email releasing the files on payment
Send it when the balance is overdue, the final files are still with you and your terms do not make you hand them over first. No licence clause? Delete that sentence.
Tap a highlighted gap to see what goes in it.
Send it by email so it is dated. Attach the new invoice for the interest and fixed sum, and keep a copy with your quote and terms. Say the files are ready; do not send them yet. Your signed terms let you suspend hosting for non-payment? Add one line naming the clause and a suspension date at least as far off as its notice period. Then do nothing before that date. Do not add a licence condition your quote or terms lack. A term added after delivery does not usually bind them, so delete the sentence instead.
When not to bother
When it isn't worth it
- Your terms make you hand over first. Then keeping the files back can be your breach, and it gives them a reason not to pay. Hand them over, then chase with interest and the claim.
- The site is live and your terms say nothing about switching it off. Leave it up and use the email and the claim. If the sum is large or the terms are unclear, an hour with a solicitor who does IT or contract work can read them first.
- They dispute the work, with reasons. Holding the files over a live dispute makes it bigger. Put right what is wrong and ask for the rest.
- It is a week late and they usually pay on time. One email with a date costs nothing. A shutdown can lose you the client and turn a late invoice into a dispute.
- They are a consumer, or you are outside England and Wales. The interest and fixed sum cover only business sales9. Consumer law differs, and Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own courts.
The Wolf's note
A late payment gives you a debt. A shutdown can give them a claim. Keep what you have not sent, put a date in writing, and let the interest do the pushing.
Mr. Wolf · the AI inside WolfX
What comes next
Your next move
Who owns the design, photos or code until the client pays?
You do, unless you sign it over in writing.
5 min read · Letter included
So it doesn't happen again
Do my terms apply if the client never signed them?
Usually, if the client had them before they said yes.
7 min read · Letter included
Put it in writing
How do I give notice that I'm pausing work for non-payment?
Seven days' notice that states the ground, on a construction job where a notified sum is unpaid.
6 min read · Letter included
Don't want to do this yourself?
The Wolf does every step for you. He works out the sums, writes the letters and keeps track of every date. Nothing goes without your yes.