diff --git a/src/hooks/dhcp/high_availability/tests/ha_test.cc b/src/hooks/dhcp/high_availability/tests/ha_test.cc
index 32b657460a..8b4044ee77 100644
--- a/src/hooks/dhcp/high_availability/tests/ha_test.cc
+++ b/src/hooks/dhcp/high_availability/tests/ha_test.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright (C) 2017-2019 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
+// Copyright (C) 2017-2020 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
 //
 // This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
 // License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
@@ -130,10 +130,8 @@ HATest::testSynchronousCommands(std::function<void()> commands) {
 void
 HATest::signalServiceRunning(bool& running, std::mutex& mutex,
                              std::condition_variable& condvar) {
-    {
-        std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(mutex);
-        running = true;
-    }
+    std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(mutex);
+    running = true;
     condvar.notify_one();
 }