diff --git a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/table/external.ts b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/table/external.ts
index 327904666d..513b989a3a 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/table/external.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/table/external.ts
@@ -67,13 +67,15 @@ function cleanupRelationships(
   tables: Record<string, Table>,
   oldTable?: Table
 ) {
-  const tableToIterate = oldTable ? oldTable : table
-  // clean up relationships in couch table schemas
-  for (let [key, schema] of Object.entries(tableToIterate.schema)) {
-    if (
-      schema.type === FieldTypes.LINK &&
-      (!oldTable || table.schema[key] == null)
-    ) {
+  const isUpdate = !!oldTable
+  if (!isUpdate) {
+    return
+  }
+
+  // When updating a table, we want to detect if some relationships were removed.
+  // If so, we want to remove the relationship from the other end
+  for (let [key, schema] of Object.entries(oldTable.schema)) {
+    if (schema.type === FieldTypes.LINK && !table.schema[key]) {
       const relatedTable = Object.values(tables).find(
         table => table._id === schema.tableId
       )