diff --git a/Sources/tart/ControlSocket.swift b/Sources/tart/ControlSocket.swift
index fbf1ce4..5c185d4 100644
--- a/Sources/tart/ControlSocket.swift
+++ b/Sources/tart/ControlSocket.swift
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ class ControlSocket {
   func run() async throws {
     // Remove control socket file from previous "tart run" invocations,
     // if any, otherwise we may get the "address already in use" error
-    try? FileManager.default.removeItem(atPath: controlSocketURL.path())
+    try? FileManager.default.removeItem(atPath: controlSocketURL.path)
 
     // Change the current working directory to a VM's base directory
     // to work around Unix domain socket 104 byte limitation [1]
diff --git a/Tests/TartTests/ControlSocketURLTests.swift b/Tests/TartTests/ControlSocketURLTests.swift
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34d27c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/TartTests/ControlSocketURLTests.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import XCTest
+@testable import tart
+
+final class ControlSocketURLTests: XCTestCase {
+  func testControlSocketURLResolvesToAbsolutePath() throws {
+    let baseURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: "/Users/test/.tart/vms/myvm/")
+    let vmDir = VMDirectory(baseURL: baseURL)
+
+    // The .path property resolves relative URLs to absolute paths,
+    // which is required for stale socket cleanup in ControlSocket.run()
+    // since it happens before the working directory is changed.
+    XCTAssertEqual(
+      vmDir.controlSocketURL.path,
+      "/Users/test/.tart/vms/myvm/control.sock"
+    )
+  }
+
+  func testControlSocketURLRelativePathIsJustFilename() throws {
+    let baseURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: "/Users/test/.tart/vms/myvm/")
+    let vmDir = VMDirectory(baseURL: baseURL)
+
+    // The .relativePath is used for socket binding after cwd is changed
+    XCTAssertEqual(
+      vmDir.controlSocketURL.relativePath,
+      "control.sock"
+    )
+  }
+}