diff --git a/gxml/Attr.vala b/gxml/Attr.vala
index e0f270d9aa2b9cc8422e83e2ee1de85f8dd12cdb..2770d7bc18926165d22d7c968af56d7cc3d29520 100644
--- a/gxml/Attr.vala
+++ b/gxml/Attr.vala
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ namespace GXml {
 		}
 
 		/** Private properties */
-		private Xml.Attr *node;
+		internal Xml.Attr *node;
 
 		/** Constructors */
 		internal Attr (Xml.Attr *node, Document doc) {
diff --git a/gxml/Document.vala b/gxml/Document.vala
index af08c2e13f8459d43b7470cfcfecf09c6ec813df..840b18d266e2535d7712e8cf0a84d8ff5e940c70 100644
--- a/gxml/Document.vala
+++ b/gxml/Document.vala
@@ -186,6 +186,8 @@ namespace GXml {
 		~Document () {
 			List<Xml.Node*> to_free = new List<Xml.Node*> ();
 
+			sync_dirty_elements ();
+
 			/* we use two separate loops, because freeing
 			   a node frees its descendants, and we might
 			   have a branch with children that might be
@@ -328,10 +330,11 @@ namespace GXml {
 
 			try {
 				instream = fin.read (null);
+				this.from_stream (instream, can);
+				instream.close ();
 			} catch (GLib.Error e) {
 				throw new DomError.INVALID_DOC (e.message);
 			}
-			this.from_stream (instream, can);
 		}
 		/**
 		 * Creates a Document from data provided through the InputStream instream.
@@ -342,13 +345,13 @@ namespace GXml {
 			// TODO: accept Cancellable
 			// Cancellable can = new Cancellable ();
 			InputStreamBox box = { instream, can };
-
+			Xml.Doc *doc;
 			Xml.TextReader reader = new Xml.TextReader.for_io ((Xml.InputReadCallback)_ioread,
 									   (Xml.InputCloseCallback)_ioinclose,
 									   &box, "", null, 0);
 			reader.read ();
 			reader.expand ();
-			Xml.Doc *doc = reader.current_doc ();
+			doc = reader.current_doc ();
 			reader.close ();
 
 			this.from_libxml2 (doc);
@@ -393,6 +396,8 @@ namespace GXml {
 					elem.save_attributes (tmp_node);
 				}
 				this.dirty_elements = new List<Element> (); // clear the old list
+
+				tmp_node->free ();
 			}
 		}
 
diff --git a/gxml/Element.vala b/gxml/Element.vala
index 1c3ed8ec32de93d6f3ec77dd9a60f6b0caf4483c..0ee8b891d9bb8535b19a37fcde5c89cda6193842 100644
--- a/gxml/Element.vala
+++ b/gxml/Element.vala
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ namespace GXml {
 				if (this._attributes == null) {
 					this.owner_document.dirty_elements.append (this);
 					this._attributes = new HashTable<string,Attr> (GLib.str_hash, GLib.str_equal);
-						// TODO: make sure other HashTables have appropriate hash, equal functions
+					// TODO: make sure other HashTables have appropriate hash, equal functions
 
 					for (Xml.Attr *prop = base.node->properties; prop != null; prop = prop->next) {
 						attr = new Attr (prop, this.owner_document);
@@ -144,16 +144,21 @@ namespace GXml {
 				}
 
 				// Go through the GXml table of attributes for this element and add corresponding libxml2 ones
-				foreach (string propname in this.attributes.get_keys ()) {
-					attr = this.attributes.lookup (propname);
+				foreach (string propname in this._attributes.get_keys ()) {
+					attr = this._attributes.lookup (propname);
+					Xml.Attr* saved_attr;
 
 					if (attr.namespace_uri != null || attr.prefix != null) {
 						// I hate namespace handling between libxml2 and DOM Level 2/3 Core!
 						ns = tmp_node->new_ns (attr.namespace_uri, attr.prefix);
-						this.node->set_ns_prop (ns, propname, attr.node_value);
+						saved_attr = this.node->set_ns_prop (ns, propname, attr.node_value);
 					} else {
-						this.node->set_prop (propname, attr.node_value);
+						saved_attr = this.node->set_prop (propname, attr.node_value);
 					}
+
+					// Replace the old out-of-tree attr with the newly allocated one in the tree, that way xmlFreeDoc can clean up correctly
+					attr.node->free ();
+					attr.node = saved_attr;
 				}
 			}
 		}
@@ -214,7 +219,6 @@ namespace GXml {
 
 			this.attributes.replace (name, attr);
 			// TODO: replace wanted 'owned', look up what to do
-
 		}
 		/**
 		 * Remove the attribute named name from this element.
diff --git a/vapi/libxml-2.0.vapi b/vapi/libxml-2.0.vapi
index 6743b1c0dfc0ac7a02b4f82643b285a4dc78de89..b434a7e3fa3b6f0983f1e2b8f6214061c3ec070b 100644
--- a/vapi/libxml-2.0.vapi
+++ b/vapi/libxml-2.0.vapi
@@ -277,6 +277,9 @@ namespace Xml {
 		public Ns* ns;
 		public AttributeType atype;
 
+		[CCode (cname = "xmlFreeProp")]
+		public int free();
+
 		[CCode (cname = "xmlRemoveProp")]
 		public int remove();
 	}