diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/operations/shard_rebalancer.c b/src/backend/distributed/operations/shard_rebalancer.c
index d26880b9b..d24936925 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/operations/shard_rebalancer.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/operations/shard_rebalancer.c
@@ -1937,7 +1937,10 @@ RebalanceTableShardsBackground(RebalanceOptions *options, Oid shardReplicationMo
 
 	if (HasNodesWithMissingReferenceTables(&referenceTableIdList))
 	{
-		VerifyTablesHaveReplicaIdentity(referenceTableIdList);
+		if (shardTransferMode == TRANSFER_MODE_AUTOMATIC)
+		{
+			VerifyTablesHaveReplicaIdentity(referenceTableIdList);
+		}
 
 		/*
 		 * Reference tables need to be copied to (newly-added) nodes, this needs to be the
diff --git a/src/test/regress/expected/background_rebalance.out b/src/test/regress/expected/background_rebalance.out
index bc1db54ac..c82078d6f 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/expected/background_rebalance.out
+++ b/src/test/regress/expected/background_rebalance.out
@@ -210,6 +210,100 @@ SELECT citus_rebalance_stop();
 (1 row)
 
 RESET ROLE;
+CREATE TABLE ref_no_pk(a int);
+SELECT create_reference_table('ref_no_pk');
+ create_reference_table
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+(1 row)
+
+CREATE TABLE ref_with_pk(a int primary key);
+SELECT create_reference_table('ref_with_pk');
+ create_reference_table
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+(1 row)
+
+-- Add coordinator so there's a node which doesn't have the reference tables
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_add_node('localhost', :master_port, groupId=>0);
+NOTICE:  localhost:xxxxx is the coordinator and already contains metadata, skipping syncing the metadata
+ ?column?
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+        1
+(1 row)
+
+-- fails
+BEGIN;
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_rebalance_start();
+ERROR:  cannot use logical replication to transfer shards of the relation ref_no_pk since it doesn't have a REPLICA IDENTITY or PRIMARY KEY
+DETAIL:  UPDATE and DELETE commands on the shard will error out during logical replication unless there is a REPLICA IDENTITY or PRIMARY KEY.
+HINT:  If you wish to continue without a replica identity set the shard_transfer_mode to 'force_logical' or 'block_writes'.
+ROLLBACK;
+-- success
+BEGIN;
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_rebalance_start(shard_transfer_mode := 'force_logical');
+NOTICE:  Scheduled 1 moves as job xxx
+DETAIL:  Rebalance scheduled as background job
+HINT:  To monitor progress, run: SELECT * FROM citus_rebalance_status();
+ ?column?
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+        1
+(1 row)
+
+ROLLBACK;
+-- success
+BEGIN;
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_rebalance_start(shard_transfer_mode := 'block_writes');
+NOTICE:  Scheduled 1 moves as job xxx
+DETAIL:  Rebalance scheduled as background job
+HINT:  To monitor progress, run: SELECT * FROM citus_rebalance_status();
+ ?column?
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+        1
+(1 row)
+
+ROLLBACK;
+-- fails
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_rebalance_start();
+ERROR:  cannot use logical replication to transfer shards of the relation ref_no_pk since it doesn't have a REPLICA IDENTITY or PRIMARY KEY
+DETAIL:  UPDATE and DELETE commands on the shard will error out during logical replication unless there is a REPLICA IDENTITY or PRIMARY KEY.
+HINT:  If you wish to continue without a replica identity set the shard_transfer_mode to 'force_logical' or 'block_writes'.
+-- succeeds
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_rebalance_start(shard_transfer_mode := 'force_logical');
+NOTICE:  Scheduled 1 moves as job xxx
+DETAIL:  Rebalance scheduled as background job
+HINT:  To monitor progress, run: SELECT * FROM citus_rebalance_status();
+ ?column?
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+        1
+(1 row)
+
+-- wait for success
+SELECT citus_rebalance_wait();
+ citus_rebalance_wait
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+(1 row)
+
+SELECT state, details from citus_rebalance_status();
+  state   |                     details
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+ finished | {"tasks": [], "task_state_counts": {"done": 2}}
+(1 row)
+
+-- Remove coordinator again to allow rerunning of this test
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_remove_node('localhost', :master_port);
+ ?column?
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+        1
+(1 row)
+
+SELECT public.wait_until_metadata_sync(30000);
+ wait_until_metadata_sync
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+(1 row)
+
 SET client_min_messages TO WARNING;
 DROP SCHEMA background_rebalance CASCADE;
 DROP USER non_super_user_rebalance;
diff --git a/src/test/regress/sql/background_rebalance.sql b/src/test/regress/sql/background_rebalance.sql
index 58cdcb123..4d105655b 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/sql/background_rebalance.sql
+++ b/src/test/regress/sql/background_rebalance.sql
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ SELECT citus_rebalance_wait();
 
 DROP TABLE t1;
 
-
 -- make sure a non-super user can stop rebalancing
 CREATE USER non_super_user_rebalance WITH LOGIN;
 GRANT ALL ON SCHEMA background_rebalance TO non_super_user_rebalance;
@@ -77,6 +76,37 @@ SELECT citus_rebalance_stop();
 
 RESET ROLE;
 
+CREATE TABLE ref_no_pk(a int);
+SELECT create_reference_table('ref_no_pk');
+CREATE TABLE ref_with_pk(a int primary key);
+SELECT create_reference_table('ref_with_pk');
+-- Add coordinator so there's a node which doesn't have the reference tables
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_add_node('localhost', :master_port, groupId=>0);
+
+-- fails
+BEGIN;
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_rebalance_start();
+ROLLBACK;
+-- success
+BEGIN;
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_rebalance_start(shard_transfer_mode := 'force_logical');
+ROLLBACK;
+-- success
+BEGIN;
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_rebalance_start(shard_transfer_mode := 'block_writes');
+ROLLBACK;
+
+-- fails
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_rebalance_start();
+-- succeeds
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_rebalance_start(shard_transfer_mode := 'force_logical');
+-- wait for success
+SELECT citus_rebalance_wait();
+SELECT state, details from citus_rebalance_status();
+
+-- Remove coordinator again to allow rerunning of this test
+SELECT 1 FROM citus_remove_node('localhost', :master_port);
+SELECT public.wait_until_metadata_sync(30000);
 
 SET client_min_messages TO WARNING;
 DROP SCHEMA background_rebalance CASCADE;