diff --git a/ironic/conductor/manager.py b/ironic/conductor/manager.py
index afe2a4fcad..f30cc4c788 100644
--- a/ironic/conductor/manager.py
+++ b/ironic/conductor/manager.py
@@ -1158,7 +1158,20 @@ class ConductorManager(base_manager.BaseConductorManager):
                 # Remove lessee, as it was automatically added
                 node.lessee = None
                 node.del_driver_internal_info('automatic_lessee')
-            network.remove_vifs_from_node(task)
+            try:
+                network.remove_vifs_from_node(task)
+            except Exception as e:
+                with excutils.save_and_reraise_exception():
+                    LOG.exception('Error in tear_down of node '
+                                  '%(node)s: %(err)s',
+                                  {'node': node.uuid, 'err': e})
+                    error = _("Failed to tear down: %s") % e
+                    utils.node_history_record(task.node, event=error,
+                                              event_type=states.UNPROVISION,
+                                              error=True,
+                                              user=task.context.user_id)
+                    task.process_event('fail')
+
             node.save()
             if node.allocation_id:
                 allocation = objects.Allocation.get_by_id(task.context,
diff --git a/ironic/tests/unit/conductor/test_manager.py b/ironic/tests/unit/conductor/test_manager.py
index 0f2b553f2e..ad5514308a 100644
--- a/ironic/tests/unit/conductor/test_manager.py
+++ b/ironic/tests/unit/conductor/test_manager.py
@@ -2657,6 +2657,36 @@ class DoNodeTearDownTestCase(mgr_utils.ServiceSetUpMixin, db_base.DbTestCase):
         # Verify reservation has been cleared.
         self.assertIsNone(node.reservation)
 
+    @mock.patch('ironic.common.network.remove_vifs_from_node',
+                autospec=True)
+    @mock.patch('ironic.drivers.modules.fake.FakeDeploy.tear_down',
+                autospec=True)
+    def test__do_node_tear_remove_vif_failed(self, mock_tear_down,
+                                             mock_remove):
+        node = obj_utils.create_test_node(
+            self.context, driver='fake-hardware',
+            provision_state=states.DELETING,
+            target_provision_state=states.AVAILABLE,
+            instance_uuid=uuidutils.generate_uuid(),
+            instance_info={'foo': 'bar'},
+            driver_internal_info={'is_whole_disk_image': False,
+                                  'deploy_steps': {},
+                                  'instance': {'ephemeral_gb': 10}})
+        port = obj_utils.create_test_port(
+            self.context, node_id=node.id,
+            internal_info={'tenant_vif_port_id': 'foo'})
+
+        mock_remove.side_effect = exception.IronicException('Oops')
+        task = task_manager.TaskManager(self.context, node.uuid)
+        self._start_service()
+        self.assertRaises(exception.IronicException,
+                          self.service._do_node_tear_down,
+                          task, node.provision_state)
+        node.refresh()
+        port.refresh()
+        self.assertEqual(states.ERROR, node.provision_state)
+        mock_tear_down.assert_called_once_with(task.driver.deploy, task)
+
 
 @mgr_utils.mock_record_keepalive
 class DoProvisioningActionTestCase(mgr_utils.ServiceSetUpMixin,
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/unhandled-remove-vif-exception-89fd332d0c1feea7.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/unhandled-remove-vif-exception-89fd332d0c1feea7.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..692d185cff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/unhandled-remove-vif-exception-89fd332d0c1feea7.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Fixes an error that node does not move to failed state when
+    removing vif failed due to unexpected errors during tear down.
\ No newline at end of file