diff --git a/src/compositor/meta-compositor-native.c b/src/compositor/meta-compositor-native.c
index a156be7da..e2614f6f7 100644
--- a/src/compositor/meta-compositor-native.c
+++ b/src/compositor/meta-compositor-native.c
@@ -119,6 +119,9 @@ maybe_assign_primary_plane (MetaCompositor *compositor)
   if (!surface_actor)
     goto done;
 
+  if (meta_surface_actor_is_obscured (surface_actor))
+    goto done;
+
   surface_actor_wayland = META_SURFACE_ACTOR_WAYLAND (surface_actor);
   surface = meta_surface_actor_wayland_get_surface (surface_actor_wayland);
   if (!surface)
diff --git a/src/compositor/meta-surface-actor-wayland.c b/src/compositor/meta-surface-actor-wayland.c
index 1dad50cd7..f6e8f8432 100644
--- a/src/compositor/meta-surface-actor-wayland.c
+++ b/src/compositor/meta-surface-actor-wayland.c
@@ -72,12 +72,6 @@ meta_surface_actor_wayland_try_acquire_scanout (MetaSurfaceActorWayland *self,
   MetaWaylandSurface *surface;
   CoglScanout *scanout;
 
-  /* If the actor appears to be obscured, need to go through the normal paint
-   * machinery to ensure the unobscured region is up to date
-   */
-  if (meta_surface_actor_is_obscured (META_SURFACE_ACTOR (self)))
-    return NULL;
-
   surface = meta_surface_actor_wayland_get_surface (self);
   g_return_val_if_fail (surface, NULL);