diff --git a/plugins/sdk/deviceModel.go b/plugins/sdk/deviceModel.go
index 8aec7a59d5729b5ce8cf8c94d4b2810b6bcd18b6..710ee23dd698bf0669473051c52395a3fde557d8 100644
--- a/plugins/sdk/deviceModel.go
+++ b/plugins/sdk/deviceModel.go
@@ -241,13 +241,21 @@ func (d *DeviceModel) ValidateChange(operation mnepb.ApiOperation, path *gpb.Pat
 	d.mu.RUnlock()
 
 	switch operation {
-	case mnepb.ApiOperation_API_OPERATION_UPDATE, mnepb.ApiOperation_API_OPERATION_REPLACE:
+	case mnepb.ApiOperation_API_OPERATION_DELETE:
+		if err := ytypes.DeleteNode(d.schema.RootSchema(), modelCopy, path); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	case mnepb.ApiOperation_API_OPERATION_REPLACE:
+		if err := ytypes.DeleteNode(d.schema.RootSchema(), modelCopy, path); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
 		opts := []ytypes.SetNodeOpt{&ytypes.InitMissingElements{}, &ytypes.TolerateJSONInconsistencies{}, &ytypes.IgnoreExtraFields{}}
 		if err := ytypes.SetNode(d.schema.RootSchema(), modelCopy, path, value, opts...); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
-	case mnepb.ApiOperation_API_OPERATION_DELETE:
-		if err := ytypes.DeleteNode(d.schema.RootSchema(), modelCopy, path); err != nil {
+	case mnepb.ApiOperation_API_OPERATION_UPDATE:
+		opts := []ytypes.SetNodeOpt{&ytypes.InitMissingElements{}, &ytypes.TolerateJSONInconsistencies{}, &ytypes.IgnoreExtraFields{}}
+		if err := ytypes.SetNode(d.schema.RootSchema(), modelCopy, path, value, opts...); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 	default: