diff --git a/doc/notification_samples/instance-delete-end_not_scheduled.json b/doc/notification_samples/instance-delete-end_not_scheduled.json
index 7cd0045e5427..1fd3c6959f82 100644
--- a/doc/notification_samples/instance-delete-end_not_scheduled.json
+++ b/doc/notification_samples/instance-delete-end_not_scheduled.json
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
     "payload":{
         "$ref":"common_payloads/InstanceActionPayload.json#",
         "nova_object.data":{
+            "availability_zone": null,
             "block_devices":[],
             "deleted_at":"2012-10-29T13:42:11Z",
             "host":null,
diff --git a/doc/notification_samples/instance-delete-start_not_scheduled.json b/doc/notification_samples/instance-delete-start_not_scheduled.json
index 32be5a3bb4d2..60597f9e851a 100644
--- a/doc/notification_samples/instance-delete-start_not_scheduled.json
+++ b/doc/notification_samples/instance-delete-start_not_scheduled.json
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
     "payload":{
         "$ref":"common_payloads/InstanceActionPayload.json#",
         "nova_object.data":{
+            "availability_zone": null,
             "block_devices":[],
             "host":null,
             "ip_addresses":[],
diff --git a/doc/notification_samples/instance-shelve_offload-end.json b/doc/notification_samples/instance-shelve_offload-end.json
index d7a563557cf4..05df5ddd6175 100644
--- a/doc/notification_samples/instance-shelve_offload-end.json
+++ b/doc/notification_samples/instance-shelve_offload-end.json
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
     "payload":{
         "$ref": "common_payloads/InstanceActionPayload.json#",
         "nova_object.data":{
+            "availability_zone": null,
             "state": "shelved_offloaded",
             "power_state": "shutdown",
             "host": null,
diff --git a/nova/compute/manager.py b/nova/compute/manager.py
index b0a308c97c94..5ed5734b6431 100644
--- a/nova/compute/manager.py
+++ b/nova/compute/manager.py
@@ -578,6 +578,9 @@ 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 fd055bd5d9b9..6090eda6a3c4 100644
--- a/nova/tests/functional/test_servers.py
+++ b/nova/tests/functional/test_servers.py
@@ -2755,7 +2755,8 @@ class ServerMovingTests(integrated_helpers.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,