diff --git a/compute_tools/src/lsn_lease.rs b/compute_tools/src/lsn_lease.rs
index a04c986fbb..85b66e365c 100644
--- a/compute_tools/src/lsn_lease.rs
+++ b/compute_tools/src/lsn_lease.rs
@@ -62,7 +62,11 @@ async fn lsn_lease_bg_task(
             "Request succeeded, sleeping for {} seconds",
             sleep_duration.as_secs()
         );
-        compute.wait_timeout_while_pageserver_connstr_unchanged(sleep_duration);
+        let compute = compute.clone();
+        tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || {
+            compute.wait_timeout_while_pageserver_connstr_unchanged(sleep_duration);
+        })
+        .await?;
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/test_runner/regress/test_readonly_node.py b/test_runner/regress/test_readonly_node.py
index e151b0ba13..5ec123cd2b 100644
--- a/test_runner/regress/test_readonly_node.py
+++ b/test_runner/regress/test_readonly_node.py
@@ -233,15 +233,6 @@ def test_readonly_node_gc(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder):
         log.info(f"`SELECT` query succeed after GC, {ctx=}")
         return offset
 
-    # It's not reliable to let the compute renew the lease in this test case as we have a very tight
-    # lease timeout. Therefore, the test case itself will renew the lease.
-    #
-    # This is a workaround to make the test case more deterministic.
-    def renew_lease(env: NeonEnv, lease_lsn: Lsn):
-        env.storage_controller.pageserver_api().timeline_lsn_lease(
-            env.initial_tenant, env.initial_timeline, lease_lsn
-        )
-
     # Insert some records on main branch
     with env.endpoints.create_start("main", config_lines=["shared_buffers=1MB"]) as ep_main:
         with ep_main.cursor() as cur:
@@ -254,9 +245,6 @@ def test_readonly_node_gc(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder):
         XLOG_BLCKSZ = 8192
         lsn = Lsn((int(lsn) // XLOG_BLCKSZ) * XLOG_BLCKSZ)
 
-        # We need to mock the way cplane works: it gets a lease for a branch before starting the compute.
-        renew_lease(env, lsn)
-
         with env.endpoints.create_start(
             branch_name="main",
             endpoint_id="static",
@@ -277,8 +265,6 @@ def test_readonly_node_gc(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder):
                 ps.stop()
                 ps.start()
 
-            renew_lease(env, lsn)
-
             trigger_gc_and_select(
                 env,
                 ep_static,