diff --git a/src/components/script/dom/element.rs b/src/components/script/dom/element.rs
index 8a47652f74f..9ffb17c3254 100644
--- a/src/components/script/dom/element.rs
+++ b/src/components/script/dom/element.rs
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ impl Element {
             "style" => {
                 self.style_attribute = Some(style::parse_style_attribute(value))
             }
-            "id" => {
+            "id" if abstract_self.is_in_doc() => {
                 // XXX: this dual declaration are workaround to avoid the compile error:
                 // "borrowed value does not live long enough"
                 let doc = self.node.owner_doc();
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ impl Element {
             "style" => {
                 self.style_attribute = None
             }
-            "id" => {
+            "id" if abstract_self.is_in_doc() => {
                 // XXX: this dual declaration are workaround to avoid the compile error:
                 // "borrowed value does not live long enough"
                 let doc = self.node.owner_doc();
diff --git a/src/test/html/content/test_document_getElementById.html b/src/test/html/content/test_document_getElementById.html
index dcb1d5bb08c..ffdca48e8af 100644
--- a/src/test/html/content/test_document_getElementById.html
+++ b/src/test/html/content/test_document_getElementById.html
@@ -66,6 +66,15 @@
       is(e2, null, "test3-2, the method should return null when the passed id is none in document.");
     }
 
+    {
+      // Ensure that the id attribute only affects elements present in a document
+      let e = document.createElement('div');
+      e.id = "should-not-exist";
+      is(document.getElementById("should-not-exist"), null);
+      document.body.appendChild(e);
+      is(document.getElementById("should-not-exist"), e);
+    }
+
     // TODO:
     // test4: "in tree order, within the context object's tree"
     // http://dom.spec.whatwg.org/#dom-document-getelementbyid.