diff --git a/packages/contracts/deploy/collateral/escrow_beacon.ts b/packages/contracts/deploy/collateral/escrow_beacon.ts
index 8a84cc6ec..58a6dfe20 100644
--- a/packages/contracts/deploy/collateral/escrow_beacon.ts
+++ b/packages/contracts/deploy/collateral/escrow_beacon.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,13 @@ const deployFn: DeployFunction = async (hre) => {
     //is this necessary ? 
   const { protocolTimelock } = await hre.getNamedAccounts()
   if (protocolTimelock === '0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000') {
-    hre.log('⚠️  protocolTimelock is zero address — skipping escrow beacon ownership transfer. Run deploy again after setting protocolTimelock.')
+    // Do not tell anyone to "run deploy again" here: this script records its
+    // id whether or not the transfer happened, and a recorded id never runs
+    // again, so a second pass cannot pick it up. That is how Arc and Robinhood
+    // both left this beacon on the deployer EOA. The transfer now has its own
+    // script, which is not blocked by this record:
+    // deploy/upgrades/46_transfer_timelock_ownership.ts
+    hre.log('⚠️  protocolTimelock is zero address — skipping escrow beacon ownership transfer. Run the `protocol:transfer-timelock-ownership` tag once the timelock is set.')
   } else {
     hre.log('Transferring ownership of CollateralEscrowBeacon to Protocol Timelock...')
     await collateralEscrowBeacon.transferOwnership(protocolTimelock)
diff --git a/packages/contracts/deploy/lender_commitment_forwarder/extensions/lender_groups_v2/lender_commitment_group_v2_beacon.ts b/packages/contracts/deploy/lender_commitment_forwarder/extensions/lender_groups_v2/lender_commitment_group_v2_beacon.ts
index 50d4190c9..75f18945d 100644
--- a/packages/contracts/deploy/lender_commitment_forwarder/extensions/lender_groups_v2/lender_commitment_group_v2_beacon.ts
+++ b/packages/contracts/deploy/lender_commitment_forwarder/extensions/lender_groups_v2/lender_commitment_group_v2_beacon.ts
@@ -61,7 +61,12 @@ const deployFn: DeployFunction = async (hre) => {
   
   const { protocolTimelock , protocolOwnerSafe } = await hre.getNamedAccounts()
   if (protocolTimelock === '0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000') {
-    hre.log('⚠️  protocolTimelock is zero address — skipping beacon ownership transfer. Run deploy again after setting protocolTimelock.')
+    // Same trap as the escrow beacon: this script's id is recorded whether or
+    // not the transfer ran, so "run deploy again" is not something anyone can
+    // actually do. The transfer lives in
+    // deploy/upgrades/46_transfer_timelock_ownership.ts, which has its own id
+    // and is not blocked by this one.
+    hre.log('⚠️  protocolTimelock is zero address — skipping beacon ownership transfer. Run the `protocol:transfer-timelock-ownership` tag once the timelock is set.')
   } else {
     hre.log('Transferring ownership of CommitmentGroupBeacon to Gnosis Safe...')
     await commitmentGroupBeacon.transferOwnership(protocolTimelock)
diff --git a/packages/contracts/deploy/upgrades/46_transfer_timelock_ownership.ts b/packages/contracts/deploy/upgrades/46_transfer_timelock_ownership.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ebc834186
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/contracts/deploy/upgrades/46_transfer_timelock_ownership.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+import { DeployFunction } from 'hardhat-deploy/dist/types'
+import { logTxLink } from 'helpers/logTxLink'
+
+const ZERO_ADDRESS = '0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000'
+
+/**
+ * Hands the beacons, the group factory and the ProxyAdmin to the protocol
+ * timelock, on any chain where the deployer is still holding them.
+ *
+ * This exists because the transfers it performs live inside the `:deploy`
+ * scripts that create those contracts, and on a two-pass chain launch that is
+ * the wrong place for them. Pass 1 runs with `protocolTimelock` unset, the
+ * transfer is skipped, and the script records its migration id anyway - so
+ * pass 2, which is the pass that has the timelock, never runs it again. The
+ * instruction those scripts print, "run deploy again after setting
+ * protocolTimelock", cannot be followed.
+ *
+ * That is not hypothetical. It is how Arc and Robinhood both ended up with
+ * every proxy, both beacons and the group factory owned by a single deployer
+ * EOA with no code, while their 2-of-5 Safes and TimelockControllers sat
+ * deployed, correctly wired to each other, and owning nothing.
+ *
+ * Clearing those stale records would work, but it also re-runs `deployBeacon`
+ * against whatever contracts ref the run pins - shipping a new implementation
+ * when all that was wanted was to move an owner. So the transfer gets its own
+ * script with its own id instead. It deploys nothing, it is idempotent, and it
+ * is not blocked by any record already written.
+ *
+ * Every action is guarded on the current owner:
+ *   - already the timelock  -> reported and left alone
+ *   - the deployer          -> transferred
+ *   - anyone else           -> reported and left alone, never forced
+ *
+ * so a chain that is already correct is a no-op, and a chain that was handed
+ * to something other than the deployer is never quietly overwritten.
+ */
+const deployFn: DeployFunction = async (hre) => {
+  hre.log('=================================================================')
+  hre.log('')
+  hre.log(`${hre.network.name}: handing ownership to the protocol timelock`)
+  hre.log('')
+
+  const { deployer, protocolTimelock } = await hre.getNamedAccounts()
+
+  const lower = (a: string) => (a ?? '').toLowerCase()
+  const isTimelock = (a: string) => lower(a) === lower(protocolTimelock)
+  const isDeployer = (a: string) => lower(a) === lower(deployer)
+
+  // The Ownable contracts. Absent from a chain's deployments is not a failure:
+  // not every chain has every one of these, and asking for one that was never
+  // deployed should skip rather than take the run down.
+  const ownableNames = [
+    'CollateralEscrowBeacon',
+    'LenderCommitmentGroupBeaconV2',
+    'LenderCommitmentGroupFactory_V2',
+  ]
+
+  for (const name of ownableNames) {
+    let contract
+    try {
+      contract = await hre.contracts.get(name)
+    } catch {
+      hre.log(`  –   ${name} is not deployed on this chain. Skipping.`)
+      continue
+    }
+
+    const currentOwner: string = await contract.owner()
+
+    if (isTimelock(currentOwner)) {
+      hre.log(`  ✅  ${name} is already owned by the timelock`)
+    } else if (isDeployer(currentOwner)) {
+      hre.log(`  →   transferring ${name} to the timelock...`)
+      const tx = await contract.transferOwnership(protocolTimelock)
+      await tx.wait(1)
+      hre.log(`  ✅  ${name} transferred to ${protocolTimelock}`)
+      await logTxLink(hre, tx.hash)
+    } else {
+      hre.log(
+        `  ⚠️  ${name} is owned by ${currentOwner}, which is neither the ` +
+          `deployer nor the timelock. Left alone.`
+      )
+    }
+  }
+
+  // The ProxyAdmin, which is the one that matters most: it is the admin of
+  // every transparent proxy on the chain, TellerV2 included.
+  hre.log('')
+  const defaultProxyAdmin = await hre.upgrades.admin.getInstance()
+  const proxyAdminOwner: string = await defaultProxyAdmin.owner()
+
+  if (isTimelock(proxyAdminOwner)) {
+    hre.log('  ✅  Default Proxy Admin is already owned by the timelock')
+  } else if (isDeployer(proxyAdminOwner)) {
+    hre.log('  →   transferring Default Proxy Admin to the timelock...')
+    const signer = await hre.getNamedSigner('deployer')
+    await hre.upgrades.admin.transferProxyAdminOwnership(
+      protocolTimelock,
+      signer
+    )
+    hre.log(`  ✅  Default Proxy Admin transferred to ${protocolTimelock}`)
+  } else {
+    hre.log(
+      `  ⚠️  Default Proxy Admin is owned by ${proxyAdminOwner}, which is ` +
+        `neither the deployer nor the timelock. Left alone.`
+    )
+  }
+
+  hre.log('')
+  hre.log('done.')
+  hre.log('=================================================================')
+
+  return true
+}
+
+// tags and deployment
+deployFn.id = 'protocol:transfer-timelock-ownership'
+deployFn.tags = ['protocol', 'protocol:transfer-timelock-ownership']
+deployFn.dependencies = ['teller-v2:deploy']
+
+deployFn.skip = async (hre) => {
+  if (!hre.network.live) return true
+
+  // Nothing to hand over to. Deliberately `false` is not returned here the way
+  // it is in the scripts this replaces: skipping on an unset timelock is the
+  // one case where recording the id would be wrong, and hardhat-deploy only
+  // records what actually ran.
+  const { protocolTimelock } = await hre.getNamedAccounts()
+  if (!protocolTimelock || protocolTimelock === ZERO_ADDRESS) {
+    hre.log(
+      `protocolTimelock is unset on ${hre.network.name} - nothing to transfer ` +
+        `ownership to. Set <NETWORK>_TIMELOCK_ADDRESS and run again.`
+    )
+    return true
+  }
+
+  return false
+}
+export default deployFn
diff --git a/packages/contracts/deployments/arc/.migrations.json b/packages/contracts/deployments/arc/.migrations.json
index c6ec252fb..fcd85ed97 100644
--- a/packages/contracts/deployments/arc/.migrations.json
+++ b/packages/contracts/deployments/arc/.migrations.json
@@ -27,5 +27,6 @@
   "lender-commitment-forwarder:extensions:borrow-swap:rebind-quoter": 1789811385,
   "lender-commitment-forwarder:extensions:loan-referral-forwarder-v2:deploy": 1789989318,
   "lender-commitment-forwarder:extensions:flash-swap-rollover:weth9-upgrade-arc": 1790007076,
-  "default-proxy-admin:transfer": 1790010192
+  "default-proxy-admin:transfer": 1790010192,
+  "protocol:transfer-timelock-ownership": 1790011094
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/contracts/deployments/robinhood/.migrations.json b/packages/contracts/deployments/robinhood/.migrations.json
index b6894be61..01f5a21e5 100644
--- a/packages/contracts/deployments/robinhood/.migrations.json
+++ b/packages/contracts/deployments/robinhood/.migrations.json
@@ -23,5 +23,6 @@
   "validate-deployments": 1789464120,
   "default-proxy-admin:transfer": 1789464120,
   "lender-commitment-forwarder:deploy": 1789993859,
-  "lender-commitment-forwarder:extensions:loan-referral-forwarder-v2:deploy": 1789993860
+  "lender-commitment-forwarder:extensions:loan-referral-forwarder-v2:deploy": 1789993860,
+  "protocol:transfer-timelock-ownership": 1790012191
 }
\ No newline at end of file