Transfer workspace ownership

Last updated: May 19, 2026

Transfer workspace ownership

Owner role transfer is a sensitive operation — the new owner inherits all billing rights and full workspace control. Initiate from Settings → Team → People → target user → action menu → Transfer ownership. Confirm in the modal. The old owner is demoted to admin (or removed, if you choose).

Who is this for

Workspace owners handing off to a successor: a founder transferring to a new CEO, an interim admin handing back to the actual owner, an account manager taking over from a departing colleague.

Before you start

  • The target user must already be a member of the workspace (invite them first via team-103 if not)

  • The target user must have admin role (promote them first via team-104)

  • The target user should be active and reachable (they'll see workspace changes the moment transfer completes)

  • Consider: do you want to remain as admin afterward, or be removed entirely?

Why ownership transfer is special

Ownership is more than a permission — it's the contact for:

  • Billing: invoices, Stripe communication, plan-change decisions

  • Legal: contract holder, DPA signatory for Enterprise

  • Workspace deletion: only owner can delete the workspace

  • Stripe customer email: usually points to the owner

So the transfer flow does extras a regular role change doesn't:

  • Verifies the new owner is an existing admin (cannot transfer to viewer)

  • Records both old + new owner in a single audit entry

  • Sends notification emails to both parties

  • Updates Stripe customer metadata (best effort — manual update may follow)

How to transfer

Step 1: Promote target to admin (if not already)

Open People page, find the target, action menu → Change role → admin → confirm. They become admin.

If they're already admin, skip this.

Step 2: Open the transfer flow

Click the target user's row → action menu → Transfer ownership. (The option only appears if they're admin or owner.)

Step 3: Confirmation modal

The modal shows:

  • Current owner: you (or current owner)

  • New owner: target user with their email

  • What changes:

    • Target gains owner role + billing access

    • You (old owner) become admin

    • Optional toggle: Remove me from workspace after transfer

    • Audit log entry will be created

If you tick Remove me: at completion you're removed from the workspace entirely. Re-add yourself via invite if you change your mind.

Step 4: Confirm

Click Transfer ownership. Backend updates two team_membership.role rows in a single transaction:

  • Old owner → admin (or removed if you ticked)

  • New owner → owner

Audit log records action: ownership_transfer with both from_user_id and to_user_id in metadata.

Step 5: Both parties notified

Both you and the new owner receive an email:

  • You: "You've handed over ownership of [workspace]"

  • Them: "You're now the owner of [workspace]"

Stripe customer email may need manual update if the new owner wants invoices sent to their email. See acc-107 for updating billing email.

Multi-owner workspaces

Wevion doesn't cap the number of owners per workspace. You can promote multiple admins to owner if your governance model requires (e.g. founders' agreement says all 3 co-founders must have billing access).

Transfer ownership flow is for replacement (the old owner leaves the role). To add an owner without removing existing one(s), just use Change role → owner (see team-104).

What you'll see

After successful transfer:

  • The new owner's row shows owner badge; yours shows admin (or you're gone from the list)

  • Toast: "Ownership transferred to [name]"

  • Audit log entry visible at /settings/team/audit-log

  • An email confirmation to both addresses

What does NOT change automatically

  • Stripe customer email: still pointed at the original setup. The new owner can update in Stripe Customer Portal (acc-107)

  • API keys you created: continue to work — they're tied to your user, not your role. New owner can revoke yours and create their own

  • Rules you created: continue to fire — they execute under the rule's stored config, not the creator's session

  • Pending invitations you sent: stay valid (token-bound, not creator-bound)

  • Other workspaces' role: unchanged — transfer is per-workspace

Reversing a transfer

If you transferred and immediately regret it, the new owner can transfer back (same flow, in reverse). Each direction is a separate audit-logged event.

If the new owner is uncooperative (rare but possible), and you removed yourself entirely, you've lost workspace access. The remaining super_admins (Org level) can re-add you. If there are no super_admins, contact support — they can intervene case-by-case.

Departing employee scenario

When the workspace owner leaves the company:

Best case (planned departure)

  1. Before they leave: they transfer ownership to a designated successor

  2. They remain as admin during a transition period (1-2 weeks)

  3. After handover complete: new owner removes them

Worst case (sudden departure, no handover)

  1. Other admins in the workspace can transfer ownership among themselves

  2. If only super_admin remains: super_admin reassigns ownership directly

  3. If no admin or super_admin: contact support immediately — they can intervene with documented company authorization

This is why having at least 2 owners or admin+owner is recommended for production workspaces.

Common issues

  • "Transfer ownership" option not in menu: target user is not admin or owner. Promote first.

  • "At least one owner required": someone tried to demote the last owner via Change role. Use Transfer ownership instead, or add another owner first.

  • Target user shows as offline / never accepted invite: cannot transfer to a pending invite. They must accept and become active first.

  • Stripe invoices still go to old owner email: update separately in Stripe Customer Portal.

  • API or rules broke after transfer: shouldn't happen, but verify. API keys + rules are user-bound, not role-bound, so removing the old owner from workspace could affect those they created. Revoke + recreate under new owner if needed.

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