diff --git a/neutron/agent/l3_agent.py b/neutron/agent/l3_agent.py
index 991c378857..34f6fbabd5 100644
--- a/neutron/agent/l3_agent.py
+++ b/neutron/agent/l3_agent.py
@@ -215,8 +215,7 @@ class L3NATAgent(firewall_l3_agent.FWaaSL3AgentRpcCallback, manager.Manager):
         self.removed_routers = set()
         self.sync_progress = False
 
-        self._delete_stale_namespaces = (self.conf.use_namespaces and
-                                         self.conf.router_delete_namespaces)
+        self._clean_stale_namespaces = self.conf.use_namespaces
 
         self.rpc_loop = loopingcall.FixedIntervalLoopingCall(
             self._rpc_loop)
@@ -244,7 +243,7 @@ class L3NATAgent(firewall_l3_agent.FWaaSL3AgentRpcCallback, manager.Manager):
     def _cleanup_namespaces(self, routers):
         """Destroy stale router namespaces on host when L3 agent restarts
 
-        This routine is called when self._delete_stale_namespaces is True.
+        This routine is called when self._clean_stale_namespaces is True.
 
         The argument routers is the list of routers that are recorded in
         the database as being hosted on this node.
@@ -280,7 +279,7 @@ class L3NATAgent(firewall_l3_agent.FWaaSL3AgentRpcCallback, manager.Manager):
             except RuntimeError:
                 LOG.exception(_('Failed to destroy stale router namespace '
                                 '%s'), ns)
-        self._delete_stale_namespaces = False
+        self._clean_stale_namespaces = False
 
     def _destroy_router_namespace(self, namespace):
         ns_ip = ip_lib.IPWrapper(self.root_helper, namespace=namespace)
@@ -860,7 +859,7 @@ class L3NATAgent(firewall_l3_agent.FWaaSL3AgentRpcCallback, manager.Manager):
 
         # Resync is not necessary for the cleanup of stale
         # namespaces.
-        if self._delete_stale_namespaces:
+        if self._clean_stale_namespaces:
             self._cleanup_namespaces(routers)
 
     def after_start(self):
diff --git a/neutron/tests/unit/test_l3_agent.py b/neutron/tests/unit/test_l3_agent.py
index d1dffffb4c..8f936d4bcc 100644
--- a/neutron/tests/unit/test_l3_agent.py
+++ b/neutron/tests/unit/test_l3_agent.py
@@ -998,7 +998,7 @@ class TestBasicRouterOperations(base.BaseTestCase):
         self.conf.set_override('router_id', '1234')
         agent = l3_agent.L3NATAgent(HOSTNAME, self.conf)
         self.assertEqual(['1234'], agent._router_ids())
-        self.assertFalse(agent._delete_stale_namespaces)
+        self.assertFalse(agent._clean_stale_namespaces)
 
     def test_process_routers_with_no_ext_net_in_conf(self):
         agent = l3_agent.L3NATAgent(HOSTNAME, self.conf)
@@ -1144,7 +1144,7 @@ class TestBasicRouterOperations(base.BaseTestCase):
 
         agent = l3_agent.L3NATAgent(HOSTNAME, self.conf)
 
-        self.assertTrue(agent._delete_stale_namespaces)
+        self.assertTrue(agent._clean_stale_namespaces)
 
         pm = self.external_process.return_value
         pm.reset_mock()
@@ -1158,7 +1158,7 @@ class TestBasicRouterOperations(base.BaseTestCase):
         expected_args = [mock.call(ns) for ns in stale_namespace_list]
         agent._destroy_router_namespace.assert_has_calls(expected_args,
                                                          any_order=True)
-        self.assertFalse(agent._delete_stale_namespaces)
+        self.assertFalse(agent._clean_stale_namespaces)
 
     def test_cleanup_namespace(self):
         self.conf.set_override('router_id', None)