MSP Takeover ChecklistGuide

Taking over a client from another MSP: what to get, and in what order

Updated 2026-10-13 · by Hieu Tran, written with AI agents and checked against the sources below

The outgoing provider usually holds the keys: global admin, the CSP licences, the registrar login, the firewall, the backups and the documentation. Most takeovers stall on one of three things: an account nobody knew about, licences tied to the old partner, or an outgoing provider with no reason to hurry. A written list, signed by the client, fixes most of that.

Before the notice goes out

1. Get the client's contract with the outgoing provider: notice period, last day, data-return clause, and anything billed through them (licences, hardware, domains).
2. Check what public records show (registrar and expiry, DNS host, mail flow, Microsoft 365 tenant, SaaS verified on the domain), so you know what to ask for.
3. Have the client sign an authorisation listing every item and a date. Outgoing providers move faster when the request comes from their client, in writing.

Microsoft 365: admin, partner roles and licences

• Get two Global Administrator accounts owned by the client before anything else changes.
• After accepting your relationship, the client removes the old partner's admin roles in the Microsoft 365 admin center (Settings → Partner relationships → Remove roles). That doesn't end a reseller relationship, and a partner that had Global Administrator (DAP) access can still buy on the client's behalf until it removes that in Partner Center.
• Licences bought through the old partner's CSP move by partner-to-partner transfer: the new partner sends the request in Partner Center and the current partner approves it; requests not accepted within 30 days lapse, and subscriptions keep their term and end date.
• Distributors can hold a transfer if the outgoing MSP hasn't paid them, so ask early whether the old provider's bill is settled.

The items DNS can't show

• Firewall, VPN and Wi-Fi admin and configuration exports; remove the old provider's remote-access rules.
• Backup console access and encryption keys, with a test restore before the old contract ends.
• A list of the outgoing provider's RMM and remote-access agents, removed on the last day.
• Endpoint security uninstall or tamper-protection passwords, the password-vault export, and the documentation (network diagram, asset list, line-of-business vendors).