diff --git a/src/nspawn/nspawn-cgroup.c b/src/nspawn/nspawn-cgroup.c
index f7ec077f7b..8732c9e2aa 100644
--- a/src/nspawn/nspawn-cgroup.c
+++ b/src/nspawn/nspawn-cgroup.c
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ int chown_cgroup(pid_t pid, CGroupUnified unified_requested, uid_t uid_shift) {
         if (r < 0)
                 return log_error_errno(r, "Failed to chown() cgroup %s: %m", fs);
 
-        if (unified_requested == CGROUP_UNIFIED_SYSTEMD) {
+        if (unified_requested == CGROUP_UNIFIED_SYSTEMD || (unified_requested == CGROUP_UNIFIED_NONE && cg_unified_controller(SYSTEMD_CGROUP_CONTROLLER) > 0)) {
                 _cleanup_free_ char *lfs = NULL;
                 /* Always propagate access rights from unified to legacy controller */