diff --git a/include/llama-cpp.h b/include/llama-cpp.h
index 8f6368177d..807e77f628 100644
--- a/include/llama-cpp.h
+++ b/include/llama-cpp.h
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ struct llama_sampler_deleter {
 };
 
 struct llama_adapter_lora_deleter {
-    void operator()(llama_adapter_lora * adapter) { llama_adapter_lora_free(adapter); }
+    void operator()(llama_adapter_lora *) {
+        // llama_adapter_lora_free is deprecated
+    }
 };
 
 typedef std::unique_ptr<llama_model, llama_model_deleter> llama_model_ptr;
diff --git a/include/llama.h b/include/llama.h
index 8b3c8a7b10..fcefb5ab4e 100644
--- a/include/llama.h
+++ b/include/llama.h
@@ -633,7 +633,8 @@ extern "C" {
 
     // Manually free a LoRA adapter
     // NOTE: loaded adapters will be free when the associated model is deleted
-    LLAMA_API void llama_adapter_lora_free(struct llama_adapter_lora * adapter);
+    LLAMA_API DEPRECATED(void llama_adapter_lora_free(struct llama_adapter_lora * adapter),
+            "adapters are now freed together with the associated model");
 
     // Get the invocation tokens if the current lora is an alora
     LLAMA_API uint64_t            llama_adapter_get_alora_n_invocation_tokens(const struct llama_adapter_lora * adapter);
diff --git a/src/llama-adapter.cpp b/src/llama-adapter.cpp
index 5ff22b18ab..d6a5800e63 100644
--- a/src/llama-adapter.cpp
+++ b/src/llama-adapter.cpp
@@ -146,11 +146,9 @@ llama_adapter_lora_weight * llama_adapter_lora::get_weight(ggml_tensor * w) {
     return nullptr;
 }
 
-static void llama_adapter_lora_init_impl(const char * path_lora, llama_adapter_lora & adapter) {
+static void llama_adapter_lora_init_impl(llama_model & model, const char * path_lora, llama_adapter_lora & adapter) {
     LLAMA_LOG_INFO("%s: loading lora adapter from '%s' ...\n", __func__, path_lora);
 
-    llama_model & model = adapter.model;
-
     ggml_context * ctx_init;
     gguf_init_params meta_gguf_params = {
         /* .no_alloc = */ true,
@@ -420,10 +418,10 @@ static void llama_adapter_lora_init_impl(const char * path_lora, llama_adapter_l
 }
 
 llama_adapter_lora * llama_adapter_lora_init(llama_model * model, const char * path_lora) {
-    llama_adapter_lora * adapter = new llama_adapter_lora(*model);
+    llama_adapter_lora * adapter = new llama_adapter_lora();
 
     try {
-        llama_adapter_lora_init_impl(path_lora, *adapter);
+        llama_adapter_lora_init_impl(*model, path_lora, *adapter);
         return adapter;
     } catch (const std::exception & err) {
         LLAMA_LOG_ERROR("%s: failed to apply lora adapter: %s\n", __func__, err.what());
@@ -473,13 +471,8 @@ int32_t llama_adapter_meta_val_str_by_index(const llama_adapter_lora * adapter,
     return snprintf(buf, buf_size, "%s", it->second.c_str());
 }
 
-void llama_adapter_lora_free(llama_adapter_lora * adapter) {
-    // remove adapter from associated model
-    auto & model = adapter->model;
-    GGML_ASSERT(model.loras.find(adapter) != model.loras.end());
-    model.loras.erase(adapter);
-
-    delete adapter;
+void llama_adapter_lora_free(llama_adapter_lora *) {
+    // deprecated: adapters are freed by llama_model's destructor
 }
 
 uint64_t llama_adapter_get_alora_n_invocation_tokens(const struct llama_adapter_lora * adapter) {
diff --git a/src/llama-adapter.h b/src/llama-adapter.h
index 42d64a6e0b..d275d25425 100644
--- a/src/llama-adapter.h
+++ b/src/llama-adapter.h
@@ -59,8 +59,6 @@ struct llama_adapter_lora_weight {
 };
 
 struct llama_adapter_lora {
-    llama_model & model;
-
     // map tensor name to lora_a_b
     std::unordered_map<std::string, llama_adapter_lora_weight> ab_map;
 
@@ -75,7 +73,7 @@ struct llama_adapter_lora {
     // activated lora (aLoRA)
     std::vector<llama_token> alora_invocation_tokens;
 
-    llama_adapter_lora(llama_model & model) : model(model) {}
+    llama_adapter_lora() = default;
     ~llama_adapter_lora() = default;
 
     llama_adapter_lora_weight * get_weight(ggml_tensor * w);
diff --git a/src/llama-model.cpp b/src/llama-model.cpp
index 1b220af83e..0f2af5256a 100644
--- a/src/llama-model.cpp
+++ b/src/llama-model.cpp
@@ -469,7 +469,7 @@ llama_model::llama_model(const llama_model_params & params) : params(params), pi
 
 llama_model::~llama_model() {
     for (auto * lora : loras) {
-        llama_adapter_lora_free(lora);
+        delete lora;
     }
 }