diff --git a/synapse/storage/_base.py b/synapse/storage/_base.py
index 0a2e78fd81..029f6612e6 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/_base.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/_base.py
@@ -894,6 +894,9 @@ class SQLBaseStore(object):
             )
 
     def get_all_updated_caches(self, last_id, current_id, limit):
+        if last_id == current_id:
+            return defer.succeed([])
+
         def get_all_updated_caches_txn(txn):
             # We purposefully don't bound by the current token, as we want to
             # send across cache invalidations as quickly as possible. Cache