diff --git a/controllers/gce/loadbalancers/loadbalancers.go b/controllers/gce/loadbalancers/loadbalancers.go
index 8e3a21d48..d867ae658 100644
--- a/controllers/gce/loadbalancers/loadbalancers.go
+++ b/controllers/gce/loadbalancers/loadbalancers.go
@@ -866,8 +866,8 @@ func (l *L7) Cleanup() error {
 		}
 		l.tps = nil
 	}
-	// Delete the SSL cert if it is not a pre-created GCE cert.
-	if l.sslCert != nil && l.sslCert.Name != l.runtimeInfo.TLSName {
+	// Delete the SSL cert if it is from a secret, not referencing a pre-created GCE cert.
+	if l.sslCert != nil && l.runtimeInfo.TLSName == "" {
 		glog.Infof("Deleting sslcert %v", l.sslCert.Name)
 		if err := l.cloud.DeleteSslCertificate(l.sslCert.Name); err != nil {
 			if !utils.IsHTTPErrorCode(err, http.StatusNotFound) {