diff --git a/src/url.cc b/src/url.cc
index b6188ef..aa86396 100644
--- a/src/url.cc
+++ b/src/url.cc
@@ -136,12 +136,11 @@ const char *a_Url_hostname(const DilloUrl *u)
  */
 static DilloUrl *Url_object_new(const char *uri_str)
 {
-   DilloUrl *url;
    char *s, *p;
 
    dReturn_val_if_fail (uri_str != NULL, NULL);
 
-   url = new DilloUrl{};
+   auto url = std::make_unique< DilloUrl >();
 
    /* url->buffer is given a little extra room in case HSTS needs to transform
     * a URL string ending in ":80" to ":443".
@@ -171,7 +170,7 @@ static DilloUrl *Url_object_new(const char *uri_str)
          s = p;
       } else if (*s) {
          url->authority = s;
-         return url;
+         return url.release();
       }
    }
 
@@ -181,7 +180,7 @@ static DilloUrl *Url_object_new(const char *uri_str)
       s = p;
    } else if (*s) {
       url->path = s;
-      return url;
+      return url.release();
    }
 
    p = strpbrk(s, "?#");
@@ -198,7 +197,7 @@ static DilloUrl *Url_object_new(const char *uri_str)
       url->fragment = s;
    }
 
-   return url;
+   return url.release();
 }
 
 /**