diff --git a/lib/kobject.c b/lib/kobject.c
index 83198cb37d8d..2509e22ad74a 100644
--- a/lib/kobject.c
+++ b/lib/kobject.c
@@ -620,6 +620,13 @@ void kobject_del(struct kobject *kobj)
 	if (ktype)
 		sysfs_remove_groups(kobj, ktype->default_groups);
 
+	/* send "remove" if the caller did not do it but sent "add" */
+	if (kobj->state_add_uevent_sent && !kobj->state_remove_uevent_sent) {
+		pr_debug("kobject: '%s' (%p): auto cleanup 'remove' event\n",
+			 kobject_name(kobj), kobj);
+		kobject_uevent(kobj, KOBJ_REMOVE);
+	}
+
 	sysfs_remove_dir(kobj);
 	sysfs_put(sd);
 
@@ -673,13 +680,6 @@ static void kobject_cleanup(struct kobject *kobj)
 		pr_debug("kobject: '%s' (%p): does not have a release() function, it is broken and must be fixed. See Documentation/kobject.txt.\n",
 			 kobject_name(kobj), kobj);
 
-	/* send "remove" if the caller did not do it but sent "add" */
-	if (kobj->state_add_uevent_sent && !kobj->state_remove_uevent_sent) {
-		pr_debug("kobject: '%s' (%p): auto cleanup 'remove' event\n",
-			 kobject_name(kobj), kobj);
-		kobject_uevent(kobj, KOBJ_REMOVE);
-	}
-
 	/* remove from sysfs if the caller did not do it */
 	if (kobj->state_in_sysfs) {
 		pr_debug("kobject: '%s' (%p): auto cleanup kobject_del\n",