diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 952192e0..37dddc26 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -206,6 +206,7 @@ BATS = \
 	test/functional/verify/verify-install-directory.bats \
 	test/functional/verify/verify-install-latest-directory.bats \
 	test/functional/verify/verify-latest-missing.bats \
+	test/functional/verify/verify-picky-downgrade.bats \
 	test/functional/verify/verify-picky-ghosted.bats \
 	test/functional/verify/verify-picky-ghosted-missing.bats \
 	test/functional/verify/verify-skip-scripts.bats
diff --git a/src/update.c b/src/update.c
index 71bffa19..6356a6b6 100644
--- a/src/update.c
+++ b/src/update.c
@@ -163,8 +163,9 @@ int add_included_manifests(struct manifest *mom, struct list **subs)
 
 	/* Pass the current version here, not the new, otherwise we will never
 	 * hit the Manifest delta path. */
-	if (add_subscriptions(subbed, subs, mom, false, 0) & (add_sub_ERR | add_sub_BADNAME)) {
-		ret = -1;
+	ret = add_subscriptions(subbed, subs, mom, false, 0);
+	if (ret & (add_sub_ERR | add_sub_BADNAME)) {
+		ret = -ret;
 	} else {
 		ret = 0;
 	}
diff --git a/src/verify.c b/src/verify.c
index 2e5337f2..a38dfc27 100644
--- a/src/verify.c
+++ b/src/verify.c
@@ -809,6 +809,26 @@ int verify_main(int argc, char **argv)
 	}
 
 	ret = add_included_manifests(official_manifest, &subs);
+	/* if one or more of the installed bundles were not found in the manifest,
+	 * continue only if --force was used since the bundles could be removed */
+	if (ret == -add_sub_BADNAME) {
+		if (force) {
+			if (cmdline_option_picky && cmdline_option_fix) {
+				fprintf(stderr, "WARNING: One or more installed bundles that are not "
+						"available at version %d will be removed.\n",
+					version);
+			} else if (cmdline_option_picky && !cmdline_option_fix) {
+				fprintf(stderr, "WARNING: One or more installed bundles are not "
+						"available at version %d.\n",
+					version);
+			}
+			ret = 0;
+		} else {
+			fprintf(stderr, "Unable to verify, one or more currently installed bundles "
+					"are not available at version %d. Use --force to override.\n",
+				version);
+		}
+	}
 	if (ret) {
 		ret = EMANIFEST_LOAD;
 		goto clean_and_exit;
diff --git a/test/functional/testlib.bash b/test/functional/testlib.bash
index 8c533b9a..dfe31dc6 100644
--- a/test/functional/testlib.bash
+++ b/test/functional/testlib.bash
@@ -1341,7 +1341,7 @@ create_test_environment() { # swupd_function
 	# added by default to every test environment unless specified otherwise
 	if [ "$empty" = false ]; then
 		if [ "$release_files" = true ]; then
-			create_bundle -L -n os-core -v "$version" -f /core,/usr/lib/os-release:"$OS_RELEASE",/usr/share/defaults/swupd/format:"$FORMAT" "$env_name"
+			create_bundle -L -n os-core -v "$version" -d /usr/share/clear/bundles -f /core,/usr/lib/os-release:"$OS_RELEASE",/usr/share/defaults/swupd/format:"$FORMAT" "$env_name"
 		else
 			create_bundle -L -n os-core -v "$version" -f /core "$env_name"
 		fi
diff --git a/test/functional/update/update-re-update-bad-os-release.bats b/test/functional/update/update-re-update-bad-os-release.bats
index c6a072cc..410d63cf 100755
--- a/test/functional/update/update-re-update-bad-os-release.bats
+++ b/test/functional/update/update-re-update-bad-os-release.bats
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ test_setup() {
 		    changed bundles   : 1
 		    new bundles       : 0
 		    deleted bundles   : 0
-		    changed files     : 8
+		    changed files     : 10
 		    new files         : 0
 		    deleted files     : 0
 		Starting download of remaining update content. This may take a while...
diff --git a/test/functional/update/update-re-update-required.bats b/test/functional/update/update-re-update-required.bats
index a424cf1a..fa21a34e 100755
--- a/test/functional/update/update-re-update-required.bats
+++ b/test/functional/update/update-re-update-required.bats
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ test_setup() {
 		    changed bundles   : 1
 		    new bundles       : 0
 		    deleted bundles   : 0
-		    changed files     : 9
+		    changed files     : 11
 		    new files         : 0
 		    deleted files     : 0
 		Starting download of remaining update content. This may take a while...
diff --git a/test/functional/verify/verify-picky-downgrade.bats b/test/functional/verify/verify-picky-downgrade.bats
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..aee1ed0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/functional/verify/verify-picky-downgrade.bats
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bats
+
+load "../testlib"
+
+test_setup() {
+
+	create_test_environment -r "$TEST_NAME"
+	create_bundle -L -n test-bundle1 -f /file_1 "$TEST_NAME"
+	create_version "$TEST_NAME" 20 10
+	create_bundle -L -n test-bundle2 -f /usr/foo/file_2,/usr/foo/file_3,/bar/file_4,/bar/file_5 "$TEST_NAME"
+	set_current_version "$TEST_NAME" 20
+
+}
+
+@test "Verify using an older version won't remove an installed bundle that was not available then" {
+
+	run sudo sh -c "$SWUPD verify --fix --picky -m 10 $SWUPD_OPTS"
+
+	assert_status_is "$EMANIFEST_LOAD"
+	expected_output=$(cat <<-EOM
+		Verifying version 10
+		WARNING: the force or picky option is specified; ignoring version mismatch for verify --fix
+		Warning: Bundle "test-bundle2" is invalid, skipping it...
+		Unable to verify, one or more currently installed bundles are not available at version 10. Use --force to override.
+		Error: Fix did not fully succeed
+	EOM
+	)
+	assert_is_output "$expected_output"
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/usr/foo/file_2
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/usr/foo/file_3
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/bar/file_4
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/bar/file_5
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/usr/share/clear/bundles/test-bundle2
+
+}
+
+@test "Verify can be forced to remove installed bundles that were not available in a previous version" {
+
+	run sudo sh -c "$SWUPD verify --fix --picky --force -m 10 $SWUPD_OPTS"
+
+	assert_status_is 0
+	expected_output=$(cat <<-EOM
+		Verifying version 10
+		WARNING: the force or picky option is specified; ignoring version mismatch for verify --fix
+		Warning: Bundle "test-bundle2" is invalid, skipping it...
+		WARNING: One or more installed bundles that are not available at version 10 will be removed.
+		Verifying files
+		Starting download of remaining update content. This may take a while...
+		Finishing download of update content...
+		Adding any missing files
+		Fixing modified files
+		.Hash mismatch for file: .*/target-dir/usr/lib/os-release
+		.*fixed
+		--picky removing extra files under .*/target-dir/usr
+		REMOVING /usr/share/clear/bundles/test-bundle2
+		REMOVING /usr/foo/file_3
+		REMOVING /usr/foo/file_2
+		REMOVING DIR /usr/foo/
+		Inspected 15 files
+		  0 files were missing
+		  1 files did not match
+		    1 of 1 files were fixed
+		    0 of 1 files were not fixed
+		  4 files found which should be deleted
+		    4 of 4 files were deleted
+		    0 of 4 files were not deleted
+		Calling post-update helper scripts.
+		Fix successful
+	EOM
+	)
+	assert_regex_is_output "$expected_output"
+	assert_file_not_exists "$TARGETDIR"/usr/foo/file_2
+	assert_file_not_exists "$TARGETDIR"/usr/foo/file_3
+	assert_file_not_exists "$TARGETDIR"/usr/share/clear/bundles/test-bundle2
+	# these files should still exist in the target system since they were not in /usr
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/bar/file_4
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/bar/file_5
+
+}
+
+@test "Verify can remove files in a specified location that were not available in a previous version" {
+
+	run sudo sh -c "$SWUPD verify --fix --picky --picky-tree=/bar --force -m 10 $SWUPD_OPTS"
+
+	assert_status_is 0
+	expected_output=$(cat <<-EOM
+		Verifying version 10
+		WARNING: the force or picky option is specified; ignoring version mismatch for verify --fix
+		Warning: Bundle "test-bundle2" is invalid, skipping it...
+		WARNING: One or more installed bundles that are not available at version 10 will be removed.
+		Verifying files
+		Starting download of remaining update content. This may take a while...
+		Finishing download of update content...
+		Adding any missing files
+		Fixing modified files
+		.Hash mismatch for file: .*/target-dir/usr/lib/os-release
+		.*fixed
+		--picky removing extra files under .*/target-dir/bar
+		REMOVING /bar/file_5
+		REMOVING /bar/file_4
+		REMOVING DIR /bar/
+		Inspected 3 files
+		  0 files were missing
+		  1 files did not match
+		    1 of 1 files were fixed
+		    0 of 1 files were not fixed
+		  3 files found which should be deleted
+		    3 of 3 files were deleted
+		    0 of 3 files were not deleted
+		Calling post-update helper scripts.
+		Fix successful
+	EOM
+	)
+	assert_regex_is_output "$expected_output"
+	assert_file_not_exists "$TARGETDIR"/bar/file_4
+	assert_file_not_exists "$TARGETDIR"/bar/file_5
+	# these files should still exist in the target system since we specified /bar
+	# as the dir to look into
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/usr/foo/file_2
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/usr/foo/file_3
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/usr/share/clear/bundles/test-bundle2
+
+}
+
+@test "Verify can show files that would be removed if not available in a previous version" {
+
+	run sudo sh -c "$SWUPD verify --picky --force -m 10 $SWUPD_OPTS"
+
+	assert_status_is 0
+	expected_output=$(cat <<-EOM
+		Verifying version 10
+		Warning: Bundle "test-bundle2" is invalid, skipping it...
+		WARNING: One or more installed bundles are not available at version 10.
+		Generating list of extra files under .*/target-dir/usr
+		/usr/share/clear/bundles/test-bundle2
+		/usr/foo/file_3
+		/usr/foo/file_2
+		/usr/foo/
+		Inspected 15 files
+		  4 files found which should be deleted
+		    0 of 4 files were deleted
+		    4 of 4 files were not deleted
+		Verify successful
+	EOM
+	)
+	assert_regex_is_output "$expected_output"
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/usr/foo/file_2
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/usr/foo/file_3
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/bar/file_4
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/bar/file_5
+	assert_file_exists "$TARGETDIR"/usr/share/clear/bundles/test-bundle2
+
+}