diff --git a/src/neighbor.cpp b/src/neighbor.cpp
index e09963ecba..eb882d2e96 100644
--- a/src/neighbor.cpp
+++ b/src/neighbor.cpp
@@ -1931,6 +1931,17 @@ void Neighbor::set(int narg, char **arg)
   if (style == MULTI && lmp->citeme) lmp->citeme->add(cite_neigh_multi);
 }
 
+/* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+   reset timestamps in all NeighList classes
+   so that neighbor lists will rebuild properly with timestep change
+------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
+
+void Neighbor::reset_timestep(bigint ntimestep)
+{
+  for (int i = 0; i < nlist; i++)
+    lists[i]->last_build = -1;
+}
+
 /* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    modify parameters of the pair-wise neighbor build
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
diff --git a/src/neighbor.h b/src/neighbor.h
index 7a098e9be2..23fd663e2b 100644
--- a/src/neighbor.h
+++ b/src/neighbor.h
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ class Neighbor : protected Pointers {
   void build_one(class NeighList *list,
                  int preflag=0);    // create a single one-time neigh list
   void set(int, char **);           // set neighbor style and skin distance
+  void reset_timestep(bigint);      // reset of timestep counter
   void modify_params(int, char**);  // modify parameters that control builds
   bigint memory_usage();
   int exclude_setting();
diff --git a/src/update.cpp b/src/update.cpp
index 8bb5bca487..faf3a8c148 100644
--- a/src/update.cpp
+++ b/src/update.cpp
@@ -448,10 +448,9 @@ void Update::reset_timestep(bigint newstep)
   for (int i = 0; i < modify->ncompute; i++)
     if (modify->compute[i]->timeflag) modify->compute[i]->clearstep();
 
-  // set last_build of all neigh lists to -1 to force rebuild
+  // Neighbor Bin/Stencil/Pair classes store timestamps that need to be cleared
 
-  for (int i = 0; i < neighbor->nlist; i++)
-    neighbor->lists[i]->last_build = -1;
+  neighbor->reset_timestep(ntimestep);
 
   // NOTE: 7Jun12, adding rerun command, don't think this is required