diff --git a/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/hash/impl/VanillaChronicleHash.java b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/hash/impl/VanillaChronicleHash.java
index dec6ed9c3..b9b1a873f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/hash/impl/VanillaChronicleHash.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/hash/impl/VanillaChronicleHash.java
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ public abstract class VanillaChronicleHash<K,
     // Bytes Store (essentially, the base address) and serialization-dependent offsets
     private transient File file;
     private transient RandomAccessFile raf;
-    private transient Cleaner releaseRaf;
+    private transient Cleaner rafCleaner;
     protected transient BytesStore bs;
 
     public static class TierBulkData {
@@ -459,13 +459,16 @@ public abstract class VanillaChronicleHash<K,
     private void setFile(File file, RandomAccessFile raf) {
         this.file = file;
         this.raf = raf;
-        this.releaseRaf = Cleaner.create(this, new RafRelease(file));
     }
 
-    private static class RafRelease implements Runnable {
+    public void registerRafReleaser() {
+        this.rafCleaner = Cleaner.create(this, new RafReleaser(file));
+    }
+
+    private static class RafReleaser implements Runnable {
         final File file;
 
-        private RafRelease(File file) {
+        private RafReleaser(File file) {
             this.file = file;
         }
 
@@ -631,8 +634,8 @@ public abstract class VanillaChronicleHash<K,
                 assert bulkData.bytesStore.refCount() == 0;
             }
         }
-        if (releaseRaf != null)
-            releaseRaf.clean();
+        if (rafCleaner != null)
+            rafCleaner.clean();
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ChronicleMapBuilder.java b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ChronicleMapBuilder.java
index 275525054..bf7413ec9 100755
--- a/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ChronicleMapBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ChronicleMapBuilder.java
@@ -1432,7 +1432,7 @@ public final class ChronicleMapBuilder<K, V> implements
             //noinspection ResultOfMethodCallIgnored
             file.createNewFile();
         }
-        ChronicleMap<K, V> result = null;
+        VanillaChronicleMap<K, V, ?> result = null;
         RandomAccessFile raf = CanonicalRandomAccessFiles.acquire(file);
         try {
             if (raf.length() > 0)
@@ -1461,8 +1461,11 @@ public final class ChronicleMapBuilder<K, V> implements
                 return result = openWithExistingFile(file, raf, recover, overrideBuilderConfig);
             }
         } finally {
-            if (result == null)
+            if (result != null) {
+                result.registerRafReleaser();
+            } else {
                 CanonicalRandomAccessFiles.release(file);
+            }
         }
     }
 
@@ -1558,7 +1561,7 @@ public final class ChronicleMapBuilder<K, V> implements
         return LongHashFunction.xx_r39().hashBytes(headerBuffer, SIZE_WORD_OFFSET, headerSize + 4);
     }
 
-    private ChronicleMap<K, V> createWithNewFile(
+    private VanillaChronicleMap<K, V, ?> createWithNewFile(
             VanillaChronicleMap<K, V, ?> map, File file, RandomAccessFile raf,
             ByteBuffer headerBuffer, int headerSize) throws IOException {
         FileChannel fileChannel = raf.getChannel();
@@ -1569,7 +1572,7 @@ public final class ChronicleMapBuilder<K, V> implements
         return map;
     }
 
-    private ChronicleMap<K, V> openWithExistingFile(
+    private VanillaChronicleMap<K, V, ?> openWithExistingFile(
             File file, RandomAccessFile raf, boolean recover, boolean overrideBuilderConfig)
             throws IOException {
         try {