diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 1df80e22d5..165873f769 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ git-annex (8.20210311) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
     special remote, fix a bug that caused the url to to not be removed.
   * unregisterurl: Fix a bug that caused an url to not be unregistered
     when it is claimed by a special remote other than the web.
+  * Work around some buggy webdav server behavior involving renaming files.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Fri, 12 Mar 2021 12:06:37 -0400
 
diff --git a/Remote/WebDAV.hs b/Remote/WebDAV.hs
index 3ffa2dc049..a816df4338 100644
--- a/Remote/WebDAV.hs
+++ b/Remote/WebDAV.hs
@@ -247,15 +247,24 @@ removeExportDirectoryDav hdl dir = withDavHandle hdl $ \h -> runExport h $ \_dav
 
 renameExportDav :: DavHandleVar -> Key -> ExportLocation -> ExportLocation -> Annex (Maybe ())
 renameExportDav hdl _k src dest = case (exportLocation src, exportLocation dest) of
-	(Right srcl, Right destl) -> withDavHandle hdl $ \h -> 
-		-- box.com's DAV endpoint has buggy handling of renames,
-		-- so avoid renaming when using it.
-		if boxComUrl `isPrefixOf` baseURL h 
-			then return Nothing
-			else runExport h $ \dav -> do
-				maybe noop (void . mkColRecursive) (locationParent destl)
-				moveDAV (baseURL dav) srcl destl
-				return (Just ())
+	(Right srcl, Right destl) -> withDavHandle hdl $ \h -> do
+		-- Several webdav servers have buggy handing of renames,
+		-- and fail to rename in some circumstances.
+		-- Since after a failure it's not clear where the file ended
+		-- up, recover by deleting both the source and destination.
+		-- The file will later be re-uploaded to the destination,
+		-- so this deletion is ok.
+		let go = runExport h $ \dav -> do
+			maybe noop (void . mkColRecursive) (locationParent destl)
+			moveDAV (baseURL dav) srcl destl
+			return (Just ())
+		let recover = do
+			void $ runExport h $ \_dav -> safely $
+				inLocation srcl delContentM
+			void $ runExport h $ \_dav -> safely $
+				inLocation destl delContentM
+			return Nothing
+		catchNonAsync go (const recover)
 	(Left err, _) -> giveup err
 	(_, Left err) -> giveup err
 
diff --git a/Types/Remote.hs b/Types/Remote.hs
index ff632fad83..3a8f01761e 100644
--- a/Types/Remote.hs
+++ b/Types/Remote.hs
@@ -280,7 +280,10 @@ data ExportActions a = ExportActions
 	, checkPresentExport :: Key -> ExportLocation -> a Bool
 	-- Renames an already exported file.
 	--
-	-- If the remote does not support renames, it can return Nothing.
+	-- If the remote does not support the requested rename,
+	-- it can return Nothing. It's ok if the remove deletes
+	-- the file in such a situation too; it will be re-exported to
+	-- recover.
 	--
 	-- Throws an exception if the remote cannot be accessed, or
 	-- the file doesn't exist or cannot be renamed.
@@ -393,3 +396,4 @@ data ImportActions a = ImportActions
 		-> [ContentIdentifier]
 		-> a Bool
 	}
+
diff --git a/doc/bugs/WEBDAV_export_has_wrong_subdirectory_content.mdwn b/doc/bugs/WEBDAV_export_has_wrong_subdirectory_content.mdwn
index b539f78e24..766107e940 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/WEBDAV_export_has_wrong_subdirectory_content.mdwn
+++ b/doc/bugs/WEBDAV_export_has_wrong_subdirectory_content.mdwn
@@ -55,3 +55,4 @@ Thx!
 
 [[!tag projects/datalad]]
 
+> [[fixed|done]] --[[Joey]]
diff --git a/doc/bugs/WEBDAV_export_has_wrong_subdirectory_content/comment_11_03ea7014854be4fa9f40a8815616b81d._comment b/doc/bugs/WEBDAV_export_has_wrong_subdirectory_content/comment_11_03ea7014854be4fa9f40a8815616b81d._comment
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e758873603
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/bugs/WEBDAV_export_has_wrong_subdirectory_content/comment_11_03ea7014854be4fa9f40a8815616b81d._comment
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[[!comment format=mdwn
+ username="joey"
+ subject="""comment 11"""
+ date="2021-03-22T16:27:10Z"
+ content="""
+Ok, failed kind of like I expected, although I have to say the filenames
+don't entirely make sense to me.
+("git-annex-webdav-tmp" is not used in filenames when renaming an exported
+file, only when storing it in the first place)
+
+So what seems to make sense for git-annex to do when renaming an exported
+file is: Try to rename, and if it fails, delete the source and the
+destination -- since it has no idea what may have been left in either place
+-- and then fall back to uploading the file again instead. I have
+implemented that.
+"""]]