diff --git a/control_plane/attachment_service/src/service.rs b/control_plane/attachment_service/src/service.rs
index 0b67e30b96..0f87a8ab05 100644
--- a/control_plane/attachment_service/src/service.rs
+++ b/control_plane/attachment_service/src/service.rs
@@ -1763,6 +1763,9 @@ impl Service {
 
     /// Part of [`Self::tenant_location_config`]: dissect an incoming location config request,
     /// and transform it into either a tenant creation of a series of shard updates.
+    ///
+    /// If the incoming request makes no changes, a [`TenantCreateOrUpdate::Update`] result will
+    /// still be returned.
     fn tenant_location_config_prepare(
         &self,
         tenant_id: TenantId,
@@ -1810,17 +1813,12 @@ impl Service {
                 _ => None,
             };
 
-            if shard.policy != placement_policy
-                || shard.config != req.config.tenant_conf
-                || set_generation.is_some()
-            {
-                updates.push(ShardUpdate {
-                    tenant_shard_id: *shard_id,
-                    placement_policy: placement_policy.clone(),
-                    tenant_config: req.config.tenant_conf.clone(),
-                    generation: set_generation,
-                });
-            }
+            updates.push(ShardUpdate {
+                tenant_shard_id: *shard_id,
+                placement_policy: placement_policy.clone(),
+                tenant_config: req.config.tenant_conf.clone(),
+                generation: set_generation,
+            });
         }
 
         if create {
@@ -1849,6 +1847,7 @@ impl Service {
                 },
             )
         } else {
+            assert!(!updates.is_empty());
             TenantCreateOrUpdate::Update(updates)
         }
     }
diff --git a/test_runner/fixtures/pageserver/http.py b/test_runner/fixtures/pageserver/http.py
index d3bf46b2e8..b899b0dac8 100644
--- a/test_runner/fixtures/pageserver/http.py
+++ b/test_runner/fixtures/pageserver/http.py
@@ -308,6 +308,7 @@ class PageserverHttpClient(requests.Session, MetricsGetter):
             params=params,
         )
         self.verbose_error(res)
+        return res.json()
 
     def tenant_list_locations(self):
         res = self.get(
diff --git a/test_runner/regress/test_sharding_service.py b/test_runner/regress/test_sharding_service.py
index 233d3b9603..3248afae15 100644
--- a/test_runner/regress/test_sharding_service.py
+++ b/test_runner/regress/test_sharding_service.py
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ def test_sharding_service_onboarding(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder, warm_up:
     origin_ps.http_client().tenant_create(tenant_id, generation=generation)
 
     # As if doing a live migration, first configure origin into stale mode
-    origin_ps.http_client().tenant_location_conf(
+    r = origin_ps.http_client().tenant_location_conf(
         tenant_id,
         {
             "mode": "AttachedStale",
@@ -312,6 +312,7 @@ def test_sharding_service_onboarding(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder, warm_up:
             "generation": generation,
         },
     )
+    assert len(r["shards"]) == 1
 
     if warm_up:
         origin_ps.http_client().tenant_heatmap_upload(tenant_id)
@@ -332,7 +333,7 @@ def test_sharding_service_onboarding(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder, warm_up:
 
     # Call into storage controller to onboard the tenant
     generation += 1
-    virtual_ps_http.tenant_location_conf(
+    r = virtual_ps_http.tenant_location_conf(
         tenant_id,
         {
             "mode": "AttachedMulti",
@@ -341,6 +342,7 @@ def test_sharding_service_onboarding(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder, warm_up:
             "generation": generation,
         },
     )
+    assert len(r["shards"]) == 1
 
     # As if doing a live migration, detach the original pageserver
     origin_ps.http_client().tenant_location_conf(
@@ -357,7 +359,7 @@ def test_sharding_service_onboarding(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder, warm_up:
     # set it to AttachedSingle: this is a no-op, but we test it because the
     # cloud control plane may call this for symmetry with live migration to
     # an individual pageserver
-    virtual_ps_http.tenant_location_conf(
+    r = virtual_ps_http.tenant_location_conf(
         tenant_id,
         {
             "mode": "AttachedSingle",
@@ -366,6 +368,7 @@ def test_sharding_service_onboarding(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder, warm_up:
             "generation": generation,
         },
     )
+    assert len(r["shards"]) == 1
 
     # We should see the tenant is now attached to the pageserver managed
     # by the sharding service
@@ -396,7 +399,7 @@ def test_sharding_service_onboarding(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder, warm_up:
     # The generation has moved on since we onboarded
     assert generation != dest_tenant_before_conf_change["generation"]
 
-    virtual_ps_http.tenant_location_conf(
+    r = virtual_ps_http.tenant_location_conf(
         tenant_id,
         {
             "mode": "AttachedSingle",
@@ -406,6 +409,7 @@ def test_sharding_service_onboarding(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder, warm_up:
             "generation": generation,
         },
     )
+    assert len(r["shards"]) == 1
     dest_tenant_after_conf_change = dest_ps.http_client().tenant_status(tenant_id)
     assert (
         dest_tenant_after_conf_change["generation"] == dest_tenant_before_conf_change["generation"]