diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/exceptions/UnavailablePreferredHintsStreamingTargetException.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/exceptions/UnavailablePreferredHintsStreamingTargetException.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d97666636d99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/exceptions/UnavailablePreferredHintsStreamingTargetException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.cassandra.exceptions;
+
+public class UnavailablePreferredHintsStreamingTargetException extends RuntimeException
+{
+    public UnavailablePreferredHintsStreamingTargetException(String message)
+    {
+        super(message);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
index 09527b5d23ad..9c461f299c5f 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@
 import org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.ConfigurationException;
 import org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.InvalidRequestException;
 import org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.UnavailableException;
+import org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.UnavailablePreferredHintsStreamingTargetException;
 import org.apache.cassandra.fql.FullQueryLogger;
 import org.apache.cassandra.fql.FullQueryLoggerOptions;
 import org.apache.cassandra.fql.FullQueryLoggerOptionsCompositeData;
@@ -3579,7 +3580,7 @@ private UUID getPreferredHintsStreamTarget()
         if (candidates.isEmpty())
         {
             logger.warn("Unable to stream hints since no live endpoints seen");
-            throw new RuntimeException("Unable to stream hints since no live endpoints seen");
+            throw new UnavailablePreferredHintsStreamingTargetException("Unable to stream hints since no live endpoints seen");
         }
         else
         {
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/tcm/sequences/UnbootstrapStreams.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/tcm/sequences/UnbootstrapStreams.java
index e62cf77dfa30..1b500180bd27 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/tcm/sequences/UnbootstrapStreams.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/tcm/sequences/UnbootstrapStreams.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.SystemKeyspace;
 import org.apache.cassandra.dht.Range;
 import org.apache.cassandra.dht.Token;
+import org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.UnavailablePreferredHintsStreamingTargetException;
 import org.apache.cassandra.locator.EndpointsByReplica;
 import org.apache.cassandra.locator.InetAddressAndPort;
 import org.apache.cassandra.locator.RangesAtEndpoint;
@@ -132,7 +133,17 @@ private static void unbootstrap(Keyspaces keyspaces, MovementMap movements) thro
         // wait for the transfer runnables to signal the latch.
         logger.debug("waiting for stream acks.");
         streamSuccess.get();
-        hintsSuccess.get();
+        try
+        {
+            hintsSuccess.get();
+        }
+        catch (ExecutionException ex)
+        {
+            if (!(ex.getCause() instanceof UnavailablePreferredHintsStreamingTargetException))
+            {
+                throw ex;
+            }
+        }
 
         logger.debug("stream acks all received.");
     }