diff --git a/man/systemd.resource-control.xml b/man/systemd.resource-control.xml
index 761a6056de..9bf2d7e774 100644
--- a/man/systemd.resource-control.xml
+++ b/man/systemd.resource-control.xml
@@ -723,7 +723,8 @@
           enabled for the unit, making them available to the unit's processes for management. If false, delegation is
           turned off entirely (and no additional controllers are enabled). If set to a list of controllers, delegation
           is turned on, and the specified controllers are enabled for the unit. Note that assigning the empty string
-          will enable delegation, but not enable any additional controllers. Defaults to false.</para>
+          will enable delegation, but reset the list of controllers, all assignments prior to this will have no effect.
+          Defaults to false.</para>
 
           <para>Note that controller delegation to less privileged code is only safe on the unified control group
           hierarchy. Accordingly, access to the specified controllers will not be granted to unprivileged services on
diff --git a/src/core/dbus-cgroup.c b/src/core/dbus-cgroup.c
index dd8aa18363..e8e8b89bb2 100644
--- a/src/core/dbus-cgroup.c
+++ b/src/core/dbus-cgroup.c
@@ -395,9 +395,12 @@ static int bus_cgroup_set_transient_property(
                                 return r;
 
                         c->delegate = true;
-                        c->delegate_controllers |= mask;
+                        if (mask == 0)
+                                c->delegate_controllers = 0;
+                        else
+                                c->delegate_controllers |= mask;
 
-                        unit_write_drop_in_private_format(u, mode, name, "Delegate=%s", t);
+                        unit_write_drop_in_private_format(u, mode, name, "Delegate=%s", strempty(t));
                 }
 
                 return 1;
diff --git a/src/core/load-fragment.c b/src/core/load-fragment.c
index c1cf8379e8..52a10dd24b 100644
--- a/src/core/load-fragment.c
+++ b/src/core/load-fragment.c
@@ -3297,6 +3297,12 @@ int config_parse_delegate(
          * off for all. Or it takes a list of controller names, in which case we add the specified controllers to the
          * mask to delegate. */
 
+        if (isempty(rvalue)) {
+                c->delegate = true;
+                c->delegate_controllers = 0;
+                return 0;
+        }
+
         r = parse_boolean(rvalue);
         if (r < 0) {
                 const char *p = rvalue;