A Microsoft 365 email handover is usually a tenant administration handover, not just a mailbox password change. The client needs the right admin role, license visibility, recovery path, and billing owner context.
Keep Global Administrator access rare and intentional. Your job is to make sure the client can manage the organization after you leave, while your own account is reduced to the least role they actually want you to keep.
Before you start
- Confirm who should be the final business owner or top administrator for the workspace.
- List the mailboxes, aliases, groups, billing contacts, and domain verification records tied to the account.
- Make sure recovery options and MFA belong to the client before you remove your own admin role.
On Microsoft 365, specifically
- The person who purchases a Microsoft 365 for business subscription is the Global Administrator by default. Source, checked September 3, 2026.
- Microsoft 365 administrator roles can be assigned from a user's details with Manage roles or from Roles and role assignments. Source, checked September 3, 2026.
- Microsoft says new users without an administrator role are assigned the user role and do not have administrator privileges in Microsoft admin centers. Source, checked September 3, 2026.
- Microsoft says Exchange Administrators can view and manage user mailboxes, Microsoft 365 Groups, and Exchange Online. Source, checked September 3, 2026.
The three stages
Prepare
Create or identify the client's admin user, document which domain and mailbox settings exist, and schedule the role change when someone can test mail flow.
Transfer
Assign the documented admin role to the client, have them sign in and add recovery options, then reduce or remove your role only after their admin access is proven.
Confirm
Check that the client can manage users, billing, domains, and mail routing. Send a test message through a real mailbox before marking the workspace client-owned.
What to tell your client
- Which account becomes the administrator.
- Which recovery email and phone number they should control.
- That you should not remain the only admin after the handover.
After it is done
Record the asset in Everkey, change its ownership status from needs_transfer to client_owned, and leave a short note with the account that now controls the email account. The free tier is enough for a small handover map.