diff --git a/fs/minix/namei.c b/fs/minix/namei.c
index 937fa5fae2b8..f20c28da1035 100644
--- a/fs/minix/namei.c
+++ b/fs/minix/namei.c
@@ -227,6 +227,10 @@ static int minix_rename(struct user_namespace *mnt_userns,
 		new_inode->i_ctime = current_time(new_inode);
 		if (dir_de)
 			drop_nlink(new_inode);
+
+		if (new_inode->i_nlink == 0)
+			goto out_dir;
+
 		inode_dec_link_count(new_inode);
 	} else {
 		err = minix_add_link(new_dentry, old_inode);