diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/requests/MetadataResponse.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/requests/MetadataResponse.java
index 99c4ffb5fb5b6..cda3c0793b91a 100644
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/requests/MetadataResponse.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/requests/MetadataResponse.java
@@ -464,6 +464,10 @@ public int partition() {
             return partition;
         }
 
+        public int leaderId() {
+            return leader == null ? -1 : leader.id();
+        }
+
         public Node leader() {
             return leader;
         }
@@ -482,7 +486,7 @@ public List<Node> offlineReplicas() {
 
         @Override
         public String toString() {
-            return "(type=PartitionMetadata," +
+            return "(type=PartitionMetadata" +
                     ", error=" + error +
                     ", partition=" + partition +
                     ", leader=" + leader +
@@ -531,7 +535,7 @@ protected Struct toStruct(short version) {
                 Struct partitionData = topicData.instance(PARTITION_METADATA_KEY_NAME);
                 partitionData.set(ERROR_CODE, partitionMetadata.error.code());
                 partitionData.set(PARTITION_ID, partitionMetadata.partition);
-                partitionData.set(LEADER_KEY_NAME, partitionMetadata.leader.id());
+                partitionData.set(LEADER_KEY_NAME, partitionMetadata.leaderId());
                 ArrayList<Integer> replicas = new ArrayList<>(partitionMetadata.replicas.size());
                 for (Node node : partitionMetadata.replicas)
                     replicas.add(node.id());
diff --git a/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/common/requests/RequestResponseTest.java b/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/common/requests/RequestResponseTest.java
index c18f5c2902971..27406167361bd 100644
--- a/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/common/requests/RequestResponseTest.java
+++ b/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/common/requests/RequestResponseTest.java
@@ -702,6 +702,9 @@ private MetadataResponse createMetadataResponse() {
                 asList(new MetadataResponse.PartitionMetadata(Errors.NONE, 1, node, replicas, isr, offlineReplicas))));
         allTopicMetadata.add(new MetadataResponse.TopicMetadata(Errors.LEADER_NOT_AVAILABLE, "topic2", false,
                 Collections.<MetadataResponse.PartitionMetadata>emptyList()));
+        allTopicMetadata.add(new MetadataResponse.TopicMetadata(Errors.NONE, "topic3", false,
+            asList(new MetadataResponse.PartitionMetadata(Errors.LEADER_NOT_AVAILABLE, 0, null,
+                replicas, isr, offlineReplicas))));
 
         return new MetadataResponse(asList(node), null, MetadataResponse.NO_CONTROLLER_ID, allTopicMetadata);
     }
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/KafkaApis.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/KafkaApis.scala
index 1ff75c0ed9b56..13f516466679e 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/KafkaApis.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/KafkaApis.scala
@@ -1105,6 +1105,7 @@ class KafkaApis(val requestChannel: RequestChannel,
           val coordinatorEndpoint = topicMetadata.partitionMetadata.asScala
             .find(_.partition == partition)
             .map(_.leader)
+            .flatMap(p => Option(p))
 
           coordinatorEndpoint match {
             case Some(endpoint) if !endpoint.isEmpty =>