diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/HMaster.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/HMaster.java
index ad6969ba9abf..1683b16043af 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/HMaster.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/HMaster.java
@@ -1844,6 +1844,8 @@ public boolean skipRegionManagementAction(final String action) {
   }
 
   public BalanceResponse balance(BalanceRequest request) throws IOException {
+    checkInitialized();
+
     BalanceResponse.Builder responseBuilder = BalanceResponse.newBuilder();
 
     if (loadBalancerTracker == null