Partner lockout of Microsoft 365 tenant – looking for advice on next steps

Hi ​ Ermserg​ 

This is a really serious (and unfortunately not unheard of) situation. Thanks for sharing the full context.

I have a couple of questions which would help me understand the situation a bit clearer. How do you currently purchase your M365 licenses, is it under an agreement like EA or CSP? Secondly, do admins still have access to data?

To answer your questions:

1. From a Microsoft tenancy perspective – what’s the fastest/most effective way to remove a partner’s delegated admin access if they refuse to release it voluntarily?

You can manage rights and permissions to your Microsoft 365 accounts on the Partner relationships page in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. On this page, you can:

• See which partners you have a relationship with, and which partners have GDAP.
• Remove a partner's GDAP from your tenant.

1. Has anyone experienced or seen a similar scenario where access was conditioned on disputed payments?

Yes, when purchasing via CSP, Partners can suspend a subscription to temporarily disable the services to customers. The Suspend state is designed to help in dunning scenarios since users cannot access files and services, although customer administrators can still access data. Partners continue to be billed when a subscription is suspended.

1. Are there formal Microsoft Partner Code of Conduct provisions that directly address this type of misuse of delegated admin rights?

Yes, there is a partner code of conduct which outlines protection of information and ethical business practices. However, going back to the previous question, I suspect that your subscription have been suspended rather than using any admin privileges to to block access. The GDAP framework itself, which replaced the less secure Delegated Admin Privileges (DAP), was designed specifically to minimize potential for misuse.

1. Any practical lessons on balancing the technical fix (regaining control of the tenant) with the legal approach (injunction, regulatory notifications)?

This is not something I could advise on however the Microsoft Customer Agreements does have wording around subscription suspensions for non payments.

Something else to note is that you do also have the option to transfer your subscriptions to a different partner. You have outlined that your invoice dispute does not relate to your licenses so could this potentially be an option?