diff --git a/doc/notification_samples/instance-shelve_offload-end.json b/doc/notification_samples/instance-shelve_offload-end.json
index 90114e480526..96e52edb63b8 100644
--- a/doc/notification_samples/instance-shelve_offload-end.json
+++ b/doc/notification_samples/instance-shelve_offload-end.json
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
     "payload":{
         "nova_object.data":{
             "architecture":"x86_64",
-            "availability_zone": "nova",
+            "availability_zone": null,
             "block_devices": [{
                 "nova_object.data": {
                     "boot_index": null,
diff --git a/nova/compute/manager.py b/nova/compute/manager.py
index 2fdc08278bb6..4de52119e016 100644
--- a/nova/compute/manager.py
+++ b/nova/compute/manager.py
@@ -577,6 +577,9 @@ class ComputeManager(manager.Manager):
         # to the database layer.
         instance.host = None
         instance.node = None
+        # If the instance is not on a host, it's not in an aggregate and
+        # therefore is not in an availability zone.
+        instance.availability_zone = None
 
     def _set_instance_obj_error_state(self, context, instance,
                                       clean_task_state=False):
diff --git a/nova/tests/functional/test_servers.py b/nova/tests/functional/test_servers.py
index 9c35fbe2af10..a388190fc1e0 100644
--- a/nova/tests/functional/test_servers.py
+++ b/nova/tests/functional/test_servers.py
@@ -2484,7 +2484,8 @@ class ServerMovingTests(ProviderUsageBaseTestCase):
         self.api.post_server_action(server['id'], req)
         self._wait_for_server_parameter(
             self.api, server, {'status': 'SHELVED_OFFLOADED',
-                               'OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:host': None})
+                               'OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:host': None,
+                               'OS-EXT-AZ:availability_zone': ''})
         source_usages = self._get_provider_usages(source_rp_uuid)
         self.assertEqual({'VCPU': 0,
                           'MEMORY_MB': 0,