Recovering access to your account

Use this when you cannot receive email at the address on the account, have lost your two-factor device, or think someone else has taken the account over.

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The most common case

Your account email is an address on the domain you host with us, and the domain or hosting has gone offline — so the address that would receive a reset link no longer works. That is the single most frequent reason people need this page. It is not a mistake you made, and there is a specific route through the form for it, covered below.

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Submitting a request

1. Go to https://my.hosting.com/recovery.
2. Choose the type of request:
   • Lost Access to Hosting Account — you cannot get into the account at all
   • 2FA Removal — you can still receive email at the registered address, but cannot generate authentication codes
3. Answer the questions and provide an alternative contact email you can actually reach.
4. Complete the identity check.

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Choosing the right option in the form

For Lost Access to Hosting Account, the answers matter: If your account email is hosted on a domain you have with us, choose “The email on the account is on the domain I have with you”. Do not choose “the email has been closed” — the address is not closed, it is unreachable, and picking the wrong option sends the request down the wrong path. Then supply your domain name and an alternative contact address.

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Identity verification

Every recovery request needs identity verification. There are no exceptions by request type — 2FA removal included. Verification runs through Persona, a third-party service. You will be asked for:

• A government-issued photo ID
• A selfie

That is the standard requirement. You do not need to send us anything separately, and you do not need to give us a reference number — once you see the completed screen after uploading your ID and selfie, our team can find your check.

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If Persona rejects your document

Usually one of three things:

• The image is blurry — retake it in better light, with the whole document in frame
• The document has expired — use a current one
• The document type is not accepted — try a different government-issued photo ID

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When we ask for more than ID and a selfie

Two situations call for additional evidence:

• You would rather not provide photo ID. We can instead accept a utility bill matching the address on the account, or a bank statement showing the last payment made on the account
• You are not the account owner. Same alternatives, plus the company documents below

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If the person who set up the account has left

Start by trying to contact the original administrator, if that is possible at all. It is by far the quickest route. If it is not, we need two things together:

1. A company registration extract naming you as a director or representative of the company
2. Your photo ID, matching that name

Both are required. A letter on company letterhead is not sufficient on its own.

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If you think the account has been compromised

Submit a recovery request straight away, particularly if the email address on the account has been changed to one you do not recognise. The request goes to our Trust and Safety team for review. Note that we do not support SMS-based two-factor authentication on the client portal, so an SMS you did not expect is not from us.

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How long it takes

Expect a first reply within 1 to 3 business days. In practice it is often the same day, but there is one person on shift at weekends so those take longer. The biggest factor is you: a request with the right documents first time moves quickly. If we have to come back for more, or chase a reply, it takes considerably longer. Updates go to the alternative contact address you gave us, not to the email on the account — which you cannot reach anyway. Watch that inbox, and check its spam folder.

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After a successful recovery

If the account had two-factor authentication, we turn it off rather than resetting it. Set it up again yourself afterwards if you want it, which we would recommend.

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Why we cannot help over chat

If you contact us from an email address that is not on the account, we cannot discuss the account, its invoices or its services — not even to confirm what it contains. There are no exceptions to this. It is not obstruction. It is the thing that stops somebody else doing the same to your account. The recovery process exists precisely so there is a safe route back in. The most we can share is a heavily masked version of the account email or name, to help you confirm you are in the right place.

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Domains

If you are recovering access to the account that holds a domain, this is the right process. If you want to move a domain to a different account or a different owner, that is a separate process handled by our domains team, sometimes called a domain split:

• Transferring between two accounts — both accounts open a ticket confirming the transfer
• Where you have the account holder’s authorisation — we can act on that
• Disputed ownership — follow the domain dispute procedure with the domains team

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Related articles

• Login or Register for the Hosting Panel
• Managing your profile in the Hosting Panel
• Updating the default email address for your account
• Working with tickets