diff --git a/src/core/manager.c b/src/core/manager.c
index 43180ad4e6..7b6a84108a 100644
--- a/src/core/manager.c
+++ b/src/core/manager.c
@@ -894,7 +894,7 @@ static int manager_setup_notify(Manager *m) {
                         return log_error_errno(salen, "Notify socket '%s' not valid for AF_UNIX socket address, refusing.", m->notify_socket);
 
                 (void) mkdir_parents_label(m->notify_socket, 0755);
-                (void) unlink(m->notify_socket);
+                (void) sockaddr_un_unlink(&sa.un);
 
                 r = bind(fd, &sa.sa, salen);
                 if (r < 0)
diff --git a/src/nspawn/nspawn.c b/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
index 49b8ba466a..a6802d6938 100644
--- a/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
+++ b/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
@@ -2824,7 +2824,7 @@ static int setup_sd_notify_child(void) {
                 return log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to allocate notification socket: %m");
 
         (void) mkdir_parents(NSPAWN_NOTIFY_SOCKET_PATH, 0755);
-        (void) unlink(NSPAWN_NOTIFY_SOCKET_PATH);
+        (void) sockaddr_un_unlink(&sa.un);
 
         r = bind(fd, &sa.sa, SOCKADDR_UN_LEN(sa.un));
         if (r < 0) {