diff --git a/src/core/dhcp/nm-dhcp-client.c b/src/core/dhcp/nm-dhcp-client.c
index 8b9e724968..484ec34e72 100644
--- a/src/core/dhcp/nm-dhcp-client.c
+++ b/src/core/dhcp/nm-dhcp-client.c
@@ -1012,8 +1012,10 @@ config_init(NMDhcpClientConfig *config, const NMDhcpClientConfig *src)
     }
 
     if (config->hostname) {
-        if ((config->use_fqdn && !nm_sd_dns_name_is_valid(config->hostname))
-            || (!config->use_fqdn && !nm_sd_hostname_is_valid(config->hostname, FALSE))) {
+        if (!config->send_hostname) {
+            nm_clear_g_free((gpointer *) &config->hostname);
+        } else if ((config->use_fqdn && !nm_sd_dns_name_is_valid(config->hostname))
+                   || (!config->use_fqdn && !nm_sd_hostname_is_valid(config->hostname, FALSE))) {
             nm_log_warn(LOGD_DHCP,
                         "dhcp%c: %s '%s' is invalid, will be ignored",
                         nm_utils_addr_family_to_char(config->addr_family),