About a problem with Photos library folders after updating to macOS 14.5 and iPadOS 17.5

I have my entire Photos library in iCloud. In total over 20,000 pictures and over 500 videos. Everything is meticulously sorted into folders. At the top level I have 2 folders. In each top level folder there are several sub-levels with folders and albums. I sync my Photos library with my iMac (27" 2019 model) and my iPad Pro (11" 4th Generation).

After updating to macOS Sonoma 14.5 and iPadOS 17.5 about 10 additional folders appeared at the top level. On my iPad these folders were empty. However, on my iMac these folders contained albums and pictures/videos. As it turned out these reappeared folders were relocated from their designated location in subfolders to the top level. Some of the reappeared folders had old folder names.

Having had severe problems before with syncing Photos app folders, which resulted in a humongous amount of work to sort out, I approached this new problem with caution. Below I describe how I solved the issue.

On my iMac I created for each reappeared folder a new folder at its designated location. Then I moved the albums from the reappeared folders to the new folders. Subsequently I deleted the reappeared folders on my iPad. This solved the issue with little work and no problems.

What does not work is if one on the iMac just moves the reappeared folders to their designated location and changes the folder name. As soon as one opens the Photos app on the iPad the extra top level folders are synced back and reappear on the iMac. At that point one has the extra folders at the top level and in addition the same folders that one earlier moved back to their designated location. If one then deletes the extra top level folders on the iPad, not only the extra top level folders are then deleted on the iMac, also the folders plus albums of the folders that one earlier moved back to their designated location disappear.