diff --git a/src/lease-manager.ts b/src/lease-manager.ts
index d7671ec10..69e51ec24 100644
--- a/src/lease-manager.ts
+++ b/src/lease-manager.ts
@@ -270,9 +270,8 @@ export class LeaseManager extends EventEmitter {
    */
   private _dispense(message: Message): void {
     if (this._subscriber.isOpen) {
+      message.dispensed = true;
       process.nextTick(() => {
-        // Tell the message its dispensed, make sure you do this first as emit blocks
-        message.dispensed = true;
         this._subscriber.emit('message', message);
       });
     }
diff --git a/test/lease-manager.ts b/test/lease-manager.ts
index 7b0de116f..b9a8305f5 100644
--- a/test/lease-manager.ts
+++ b/test/lease-manager.ts
@@ -402,12 +402,20 @@ describe('LeaseManager', () => {
 
   describe('clearNonDispensedMessages', () => {
     it('should only clear messages with dispensed=false', () => {
+      leaseManager.setOptions({
+        maxMessages: 2,
+        maxBytes: 10,
+        allowExcessMessages: false,
+      });
+
       const message = new FakeMessage();
       const message2 = new FakeMessage();
+
       message.dispensed = true;
       message2.dispensed = false;
       leaseManager.add(message as {} as Message);
       leaseManager.add(message2 as {} as Message);
+
       leaseManager.clearNonDispensedMessages();
       assert.strictEqual(leaseManager.size, 1);
       assert.strictEqual(leaseManager.bytes, message.length);