diff --git a/src/consumer/fetchManager.js b/src/consumer/fetchManager.js
index 7ec46eac1..309a0986e 100644
--- a/src/consumer/fetchManager.js
+++ b/src/consumer/fetchManager.js
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ const createFetchManager = ({
       const current = getNodeIds()
       const hasChanged =
         nodeIds.length !== current.length || nodeIds.some(nodeId => !current.includes(nodeId))
-      if (hasChanged) {
+      if (hasChanged && current.length !== 0) {
         throw new KafkaJSFetcherRebalanceError()
       }
     }
diff --git a/src/consumer/fetchManager.spec.js b/src/consumer/fetchManager.spec.js
index 5438a5410..9dbf26df8 100644
--- a/src/consumer/fetchManager.spec.js
+++ b/src/consumer/fetchManager.spec.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ const createFetchManager = require('./fetchManager')
 const Batch = require('./batch')
 const { newLogger } = require('testHelpers')
 const waitFor = require('../utils/waitFor')
+const { KafkaJSNonRetriableError } = require('../errors')
 
 describe('FetchManager', () => {
   let fetchManager, fetch, handler, getNodeIds, concurrency, batchSize
@@ -72,4 +73,25 @@ describe('FetchManager', () => {
     fetchers = fetchManager.getFetchers()
     expect(fetchers).toHaveLength(3)
   })
+
+  describe('when all brokers have become unavailable', () => {
+    it('should not rebalance and let the error bubble up', async () => {
+      const fetchMock = jest.fn().mockImplementation(async nodeId => {
+        if (!getNodeIds().includes(nodeId)) {
+          throw new KafkaJSNonRetriableError('Node not found')
+        }
+
+        return fetch(nodeId)
+      })
+      getNodeIds.mockImplementation(() => seq(1))
+
+      fetchManager = createTestFetchManager({ concurrency: 1, fetch: fetchMock })
+      const fetchManagerPromise = fetchManager.start()
+
+      expect(fetchManager.getFetchers()).toHaveLength(1)
+
+      getNodeIds.mockImplementation(() => seq(0))
+      await expect(fetchManagerPromise).rejects.toThrow('Node not found')
+    })
+  })
 })