diff --git a/fs/nilfs2/namei.c b/fs/nilfs2/namei.c
index 98034271cd02e06194e28701aa63c8086fe0ed7e..161791d26458b3c6669dbb11cdd6741a8ae9facb 100644
--- a/fs/nilfs2/namei.c
+++ b/fs/nilfs2/namei.c
@@ -397,7 +397,6 @@ static int nilfs_rename(struct inode *old_dir, struct dentry *old_dentry,
 		new_de = nilfs_find_entry(new_dir, &new_dentry->d_name, &new_page);
 		if (!new_de)
 			goto out_dir;
-		inc_nlink(old_inode);
 		nilfs_set_link(new_dir, new_de, new_page, old_inode);
 		nilfs_mark_inode_dirty(new_dir);
 		new_inode->i_ctime = CURRENT_TIME;
@@ -411,13 +410,9 @@ static int nilfs_rename(struct inode *old_dir, struct dentry *old_dentry,
 			if (new_dir->i_nlink >= NILFS_LINK_MAX)
 				goto out_dir;
 		}
-		inc_nlink(old_inode);
 		err = nilfs_add_link(new_dentry, old_inode);
-		if (err) {
-			drop_nlink(old_inode);
-			nilfs_mark_inode_dirty(old_inode);
+		if (err)
 			goto out_dir;
-		}
 		if (dir_de) {
 			inc_nlink(new_dir);
 			nilfs_mark_inode_dirty(new_dir);
@@ -431,7 +426,6 @@ static int nilfs_rename(struct inode *old_dir, struct dentry *old_dentry,
 	old_inode->i_ctime = CURRENT_TIME;
 
 	nilfs_delete_entry(old_de, old_page);
-	drop_nlink(old_inode);
 
 	if (dir_de) {
 		nilfs_set_link(old_inode, dir_de, dir_page, new_dir);