diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 40b82222..afc49713 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -42,6 +42,16 @@ What v0.10.5 made settable from the command line is now on the pages too:
   critical model's card no longer refuses a replica that preemption would make
   room for.
 
+### Restarts borrow a lower class's room
+
+A restart places the replacement beside the replica it replaces, and where
+there is no free room it now makes some the way any placement does: by
+stopping a replica its class outranks, which gets its room back once the old
+replica has gone. The in-place restart — the model unserved while its
+replacement loads — is left for when nothing of a lower class is running. On a
+cluster where every model is standard, that is every full one: mark the models
+that can wait `opportunistic` (`llmgw ctl model class`, or the model's card).
+
 ## v0.10.5 — 2026-09-30
 
 Published first as release candidates v0.10.5-rc.1 to rc.14; rc.5 failed its
diff --git a/internal/control/reconciler/preempt_test.go b/internal/control/reconciler/preempt_test.go
index 87559dd4..7e13e925 100644
--- a/internal/control/reconciler/preempt_test.go
+++ b/internal/control/reconciler/preempt_test.go
@@ -331,3 +331,62 @@ func TestHeadroomCountsWhatAHigherClassCouldTake(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("a standard model counted room in another's minimum: %+v", got)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestARestartBorrowsALowerClassesRoomAndGivesItBack(t *testing.T) {
+	// chat fills node 1; the only other node holds an opportunistic replica.
+	chat := gpuModel("chat", "", 1)
+	extra := gpuModel("extra", catalog.ClassOpportunistic, 1)
+	h := newFleetHarness(t, []catalog.Model{chat, extra}, gpuNode("1", 8), gpuNode("2", 8))
+	h.settle(t, 3)
+	h.advance(h.r.cfg.MinLifetime + time.Minute)
+	var old string
+	for _, rep := range h.r.Replicas() {
+		if rep.Model == "chat" {
+			old = rep.ID
+		}
+	}
+	if old == "" || replicasOf(h, "extra") != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("setup: %+v", h.r.Replicas())
+	}
+
+	if err := h.r.Restart(old); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	// Replacement first, beside the old one, in the room extra gives up;
+	// the old one keeps serving until then.
+	servedThroughout := true
+	for range 8 {
+		h.r.Reconcile(t.Context())
+		h.markReady()
+		ready := 0
+		for _, rep := range h.r.Replicas() {
+			if rep.Model == "chat" && rep.State == Ready {
+				ready++
+			}
+		}
+		if ready == 0 {
+			servedThroughout = false
+		}
+		h.advance(h.r.cfg.PreemptGrace + time.Second)
+	}
+	if !servedThroughout {
+		t.Error("chat had no ready replica during its restart")
+	}
+	var newChat bool
+	for _, rep := range h.r.Replicas() {
+		if rep.Model == "chat" && rep.ID != old && rep.State == Ready {
+			newChat = true
+		}
+		if rep.ID == old {
+			t.Errorf("the old replica is still there: %+v", rep)
+		}
+	}
+	if !newChat {
+		t.Fatalf("no new chat replica: %+v", h.r.Replicas())
+	}
+	// And extra has its replica back, in the room the old chat left.
+	h.settle(t, 4)
+	if replicasOf(h, "extra") != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("the opportunistic model did not get its room back: %+v", h.r.Replicas())
+	}
+}