Account access is not the same as someone else's login
A Meta ad account belongs to an owner: either a business portfolio or a personal profile. A takeover holds up only if you can be assigned or hold the account as an admin in Business Settings. Receiving a seller's or predecessor's personal login is shared-credential access, which platform terms generally prohibit and which often triggers verification prompts that lock you out. Transfer and claim rules change, so rely on Meta's current Business Settings and Help Center pages.
Restrictions: read Account Quality, not just whether it opens
Being able to open Ads Manager does not mean you can run ads. Check that the ad account status is active rather than disabled or restricted, review Account Quality for unresolved policy violations or rejected ads, and confirm the owning business portfolio has no pending verification or functional limits. Note whether violations cluster around one content category, since that affects what you can advertise next. If an appeal requires documents from the previous owner and you cannot supply them, stop.
Billing: payment method, balance and spend limit each have an owner
Separate the billing questions. Whose name is on the card or payment tool, and can you replace it? Is there an unpaid balance, failed charge or payment dispute that will pause delivery right after you take over? What are the account spend limit and billing threshold, and do they fit your budget? Also check the invoice and tax details: if they still name the previous entity, reconciliation and reimbursement will not match your company. Fees and thresholds vary, so use what the billing page shows at the time.
Two-factor authentication must not depend on the previous person's phone
The most common handover failure is not a ban but verification tied to someone else. Confirm whether the business portfolio requires two-factor authentication for admins, that your own profile uses an independent method, and that at least two admins are under your control to avoid a single point of failure. After handover, remove the previous admin and revoke access to the ad account, Page and pixel. If the other side insists on receiving codes on their device or keeping admin rights, control has not actually moved.
Linked assets can be harder to move than the ad account
Ad accounts depend on Pages, pixels or datasets, verified domains, custom audiences and conversion events. If those sit in the previous owner's portfolio, you may lose them even if you keep the ad account, and audience and conversion history will not follow. Ask which assets are assigned to you and which must be rebuilt. If your campaigns rely on a pixel that cannot be transferred, the old account is worth much less.
When to stop and open a new account instead
Pause the handover if any of these apply: only login credentials are offered and no admin assignment is possible; the account is restricted or disabled and the appeal path is not yours; the payment method cannot be replaced or there is unpaid debt; two-factor authentication depends on the previous owner's device; key assets cannot move with the account. If the status is healthy, you are an admin, payment is yours, verification is yours and the asset list is explicit, the risk is manageable. For simple campaigns, a new account under your own entity is often less work than repairing an old one with unresolved history.