diff --git a/Resources/Computing/HTCondorCEComputingElement.py b/Resources/Computing/HTCondorCEComputingElement.py
index 087eec1a70f..3fbe8bff320 100644
--- a/Resources/Computing/HTCondorCEComputingElement.py
+++ b/Resources/Computing/HTCondorCEComputingElement.py
@@ -54,7 +54,9 @@
 import os
 import tempfile
 import commands
+import datetime
 import errno
+import threading
 
 from DIRAC import S_OK, S_ERROR, gConfig
 from DIRAC.Resources.Computing.ComputingElement import ComputingElement
@@ -170,6 +172,10 @@ class HTCondorCEComputingElement(ComputingElement):
       implementing the functions jobSubmit, getJobOutput
   """
 
+  # static variables to ensure single cleanup every minute
+  _lastCleanupTime = datetime.datetime.utcnow()
+  _cleanupLock = threading.Lock()
+
   #############################################################################
   def __init__(self, ceUniqueID):
     """ Standard constructor.
@@ -535,21 +541,33 @@ def __cleanup(self):
     # FIXME: again some issue with the working directory...
     # workingDirectory = self.ceParameters.get( 'WorkingDirectory', DEFAULT_WORKINGDIRECTORY )
 
+    if not HTCondorCEComputingElement._cleanupLock.acquire(False):
+      return
+
+    now = datetime.datetime.utcnow()
+    if (now - HTCondorCEComputingElement._lastCleanupTime).total_seconds() < 60:
+      HTCondorCEComputingElement._cleanupLock.release()
+      return
+
+    HTCondorCEComputingElement._lastCleanupTime = now
+
     self.log.debug("Cleaning working directory: %s" % self.workingDirectory)
 
     # remove all files older than 120 minutes starting with DIRAC_ Condor will
     # push files on submission, but it takes at least a few seconds until this
     # happens so we can't directly unlink after condor_submit
-    status, stdout = commands.getstatusoutput('find %s -mmin +120 -name "DIRAC_*" -delete ' % self.workingDirectory)
+    status, stdout = commands.getstatusoutput('find -O3 %s -maxdepth 1 -mmin +120 -name "DIRAC_*" -delete ' %
+                                              self.workingDirectory)
     if status:
       self.log.error("Failure during HTCondorCE __cleanup", stdout)
 
-    # remove all out/err/log files older than "DaysToKeepLogs" days in the CE part of the working Directory
-    workDir = os.path.join(self.workingDirectory, self.ceName)
-    findPars = dict(workDir=workDir, days=self.daysToKeepLogs)
+    # remove all out/err/log files older than "DaysToKeepLogs" days in the working directory
+    # not running this for each CE so we do global cleanup
+    findPars = dict(workDir=self.workingDirectory, days=self.daysToKeepLogs)
     # remove all out/err/log files older than "DaysToKeepLogs" days
     status, stdout = commands.getstatusoutput(
         r'find %(workDir)s -mtime +%(days)s -type f \( -name "*.out" -o -name "*.err" -o -name "*.log" \) -delete ' %
         findPars)
     if status:
       self.log.error("Failure during HTCondorCE __cleanup", stdout)
+    self._cleanupLock.release()
diff --git a/release.notes b/release.notes
index 65d1cf5d31b..5f86c37c0b7 100644
--- a/release.notes
+++ b/release.notes
@@ -632,6 +632,14 @@ FIX: (#4551) align ProxyDB test to current changes
 NEW: (#4289) Document how to run integration tests in docker
 NEW: (#4551) add DNProperties description to Registry/Users subsection
 
+[v7r0p56]
+
+*Resources
+FIX: (#5119) HTCondorCE: Limit calls to actual cleanup (find and delete files on disk) to
+     once per minute per SiteDirector, fixes #5118
+CHANGE: (#5119) HTCondorCE cleanup: Run the DIRAC_ executable purge with -O3 and -maxdepth
+        1 to speed up the find
+
 [v7r0p55]
 
 *TS