diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web/Trees/MemberTypeTreeController.cs b/src/Umbraco.Web/Trees/MemberTypeTreeController.cs
index 77eb6e0b24..7bf04010f2 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web/Trees/MemberTypeTreeController.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web/Trees/MemberTypeTreeController.cs
@@ -7,11 +7,18 @@ using Umbraco.Web.WebApi.Filters;
 
 namespace Umbraco.Web.Trees
 {
-    [CoreTree(TreeGroup =Constants.Trees.Groups.Settings)]
+    [CoreTree(TreeGroup = Constants.Trees.Groups.Settings)]
     [UmbracoTreeAuthorize(Constants.Trees.MemberTypes)]
     [Tree(Constants.Applications.Settings, Constants.Trees.MemberTypes, null, sortOrder: 2)]
     public class MemberTypeTreeController : MemberTypeAndGroupTreeControllerBase
     {
+        protected override TreeNode CreateRootNode(FormDataCollection queryStrings)
+        {
+            var root = base.CreateRootNode(queryStrings);
+            //check if there are any member types
+            root.HasChildren = Services.MemberTypeService.GetAll().Any();
+            return root;
+        }
         protected override IEnumerable<TreeNode> GetTreeNodesFromService(string id, FormDataCollection queryStrings)
         {
             return Services.MemberTypeService.GetAll()