diff --git a/nominatim/clicmd/admin.py b/nominatim/clicmd/admin.py
index debbd8d3f..9a7b92e6c 100644
--- a/nominatim/clicmd/admin.py
+++ b/nominatim/clicmd/admin.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ class AdminFuncs:
     """
 
     def add_args(self, parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
+        self.parser = parser
         group = parser.add_argument_group('Admin tasks')
         objs = group.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=True)
         objs.add_argument('--warm', action='store_true',
@@ -89,6 +90,8 @@ def run(self, args: NominatimArgs) -> int:
             return 0
 
         if args.clean_deleted:
+            if not args.age:
+                self.parser.error('Age is required for --clean-deleted command')
             LOG.warning('Cleaning up deleted relations')
             from ..tools import admin
             admin.clean_deleted_relations(args.config, age=args.age)
diff --git a/nominatim/tools/admin.py b/nominatim/tools/admin.py
index f27d9bbcc..5bc3954b8 100644
--- a/nominatim/tools/admin.py
+++ b/nominatim/tools/admin.py
@@ -90,12 +90,9 @@ def analyse_indexing(config: Configuration, osm_id: Optional[str] = None,
             print(msg)
 
 
-def clean_deleted_relations(config: Configuration, age: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
+def clean_deleted_relations(config: Configuration, age: str) -> None:
     """ Clean deleted relations older than a given age
     """
-    if not age:
-        LOG.fatal('No age given to delete relations')
-        raise UsageError('Age parameter not found')
     with connect(config.get_libpq_dsn()) as conn:
         with conn.cursor() as cur:
             try:
diff --git a/test/python/cli/test_cmd_admin.py b/test/python/cli/test_cmd_admin.py
index 20e5be00f..0fe6e3270 100644
--- a/test/python/cli/test_cmd_admin.py
+++ b/test/python/cli/test_cmd_admin.py
@@ -36,9 +36,15 @@ def test_admin_migrate(cli_call, mock_func_factory):
 def test_admin_clean_deleted_relations(cli_call, mock_func_factory):
     mock = mock_func_factory(nominatim.tools.admin, 'clean_deleted_relations')
 
-    assert cli_call('admin', '--clean-deleted') == 0
+    assert cli_call('admin', '--clean-deleted', '--age', '1 month') == 0
     assert mock.called == 1
 
+def test_admin_clean_deleted_relations_no_age(cli_call, mock_func_factory):
+    mock = mock_func_factory(nominatim.tools.admin, 'clean_deleted_relations')
+
+    with pytest.raises(SystemExit):
+        cli_call('admin', '--clean-deleted')
+
 class TestCliAdminWithDb:
 
     @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
diff --git a/test/python/tools/test_admin.py b/test/python/tools/test_admin.py
index 3ce3c8f46..ae5944afa 100644
--- a/test/python/tools/test_admin.py
+++ b/test/python/tools/test_admin.py
@@ -91,8 +91,8 @@ class TEXT NOT NULL,
                       (175, 'R', 'landcover', 'grass')))
         temp_db_cursor.execute("""INSERT INTO placex (place_id, osm_id, osm_type, class, type, indexed_date, indexed_status)
                               VALUES(1, 100, 'N', 'boundary', 'administrative', current_date - INTERVAL '1 month', 1),
-                               (2, 145, 'N', 'boundary', 'administrative', current_date - INTERVAL '1 month', 1),
-                               (3, 175, 'R', 'landcover', 'grass', current_date - INTERVAL '1 month', 1)""")
+                               (2, 145, 'N', 'boundary', 'administrative', current_date - INTERVAL '3 month', 1),
+                               (3, 175, 'R', 'landcover', 'grass', current_date - INTERVAL '3 months', 1)""")
         # set up tables and triggers for utils function
         table_factory('place_to_be_deleted',
                       """osm_id BIGINT,
@@ -126,17 +126,19 @@ def test_admin_clean_deleted_no_records(self):
         assert self.temp_db_cursor.table_rows('import_polygon_delete') == 3
 
 
-    def test_admin_clean_deleted_no_age(self):
-        with pytest.raises(UsageError):
-            admin.clean_deleted_relations(self.project_env)
-
-
     @pytest.mark.parametrize('test_age', ['T week', '1 welk', 'P1E'])
     def test_admin_clean_deleted_bad_age(self, test_age):
         with pytest.raises(UsageError):
             admin.clean_deleted_relations(self.project_env, age = test_age)
 
 
+    def test_admin_clean_deleted_partial(self):
+        admin.clean_deleted_relations(self.project_env, age = '2 months')
+        assert self.temp_db_cursor.row_set('SELECT osm_id, osm_type, class, type, indexed_status FROM placex') == {(100, 'N', 'boundary', 'administrative', 1),
+                                                                                                                   (145, 'N', 'boundary', 'administrative', 100),
+                                                                                                                   (175, 'R', 'landcover', 'grass', 100)}
+        assert self.temp_db_cursor.table_rows('import_polygon_delete') == 1
+
     @pytest.mark.parametrize('test_age', ['1 week', 'P3D', '5 hours'])
     def test_admin_clean_deleted(self, test_age):
         admin.clean_deleted_relations(self.project_env, age = test_age)