diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/rest/api/impl/SiteMembershipRequestsImpl.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/rest/api/impl/SiteMembershipRequestsImpl.java
index aff26b31ce..0367200421 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/rest/api/impl/SiteMembershipRequestsImpl.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/rest/api/impl/SiteMembershipRequestsImpl.java
@@ -1,28 +1,28 @@
-/*
- * #%L
- * Alfresco Remote API
- * %%
- * Copyright (C) 2005 - 2016 Alfresco Software Limited
- * %%
- * This file is part of the Alfresco software. 
- * If the software was purchased under a paid Alfresco license, the terms of 
- * the paid license agreement will prevail.  Otherwise, the software is 
- * provided under the following open source license terms:
- * 
- * Alfresco is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
- * it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
- * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
- * (at your option) any later version.
- * 
- * Alfresco is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
- * GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
- * 
- * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
- * along with Alfresco. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
- * #L%
- */
+/*
+ * #%L
+ * Alfresco Remote API
+ * %%
+ * Copyright (C) 2005 - 2016 Alfresco Software Limited
+ * %%
+ * This file is part of the Alfresco software. 
+ * If the software was purchased under a paid Alfresco license, the terms of 
+ * the paid license agreement will prevail.  Otherwise, the software is 
+ * provided under the following open source license terms:
+ * 
+ * Alfresco is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ * 
+ * Alfresco is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ * 
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+ * along with Alfresco. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ * #L%
+ */
 package org.alfresco.rest.api.impl;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ import org.alfresco.rest.api.People;
 import org.alfresco.rest.api.SiteMembershipRequests;
 import org.alfresco.rest.api.Sites;
 import org.alfresco.rest.api.model.SiteMembershipRequest;
+import org.alfresco.rest.framework.core.exceptions.EntityNotFoundException;
 import org.alfresco.rest.framework.core.exceptions.InvalidArgumentException;
 import org.alfresco.rest.framework.core.exceptions.RelationshipResourceNotFoundException;
 import org.alfresco.rest.framework.resource.parameters.CollectionWithPagingInfo;
@@ -349,6 +350,12 @@ public class SiteMembershipRequestsImpl implements SiteMembershipRequests
 			}
 		});
 		
+		if(siteInfo == null)
+		{
+			// site does not exist
+			throw new RelationshipResourceNotFoundException(inviteeId, siteId);
+		}
+		
 		if(siteInfo.getVisibility().equals(SiteVisibility.MODERATED))
 		{
 			// set the site id to the short name (to deal with case sensitivity issues with using the siteId from the url)
@@ -397,6 +404,12 @@ public class SiteMembershipRequestsImpl implements SiteMembershipRequests
 				}
 			});
 
+			if(siteInfo == null)
+			{
+				// site does not exist
+				throw new EntityNotFoundException(siteId);
+			}
+
 			if(siteInfo.getVisibility().equals(SiteVisibility.MODERATED))
 			{
 				// return a site membership request only if this is a moderated site
diff --git a/source/test-java/org/alfresco/rest/api/tests/TestSiteMembershipRequests.java b/source/test-java/org/alfresco/rest/api/tests/TestSiteMembershipRequests.java
index 55365bc16d..3b53f8f60f 100644
--- a/source/test-java/org/alfresco/rest/api/tests/TestSiteMembershipRequests.java
+++ b/source/test-java/org/alfresco/rest/api/tests/TestSiteMembershipRequests.java
@@ -350,6 +350,21 @@ public class TestSiteMembershipRequests extends EnterpriseTestApi
 			{
 				assertEquals(HttpStatus.SC_NOT_FOUND, e.getHttpResponse().getStatusCode());				
 			}
+
+			// ACE-2409 / ACE-5442
+			// get site membership request for unknown site
+			try
+			{
+				publicApiClient.setRequestContext(new RequestContext(network1.getId(), person11Id));
+				
+				siteMembershipRequestsProxy.getSiteMembershipRequest(person11Id, GUID.generate());
+
+				fail("");
+			}
+			catch(PublicApiException e)
+			{
+				assertEquals(HttpStatus.SC_NOT_FOUND, e.getHttpResponse().getStatusCode());
+			}
 			
 			// DELETEs
 			{