diff --git a/src/clients/admin/admin.ts b/src/clients/admin/admin.ts
index 6e4e8389..e9568a08 100644
--- a/src/clients/admin/admin.ts
+++ b/src/clients/admin/admin.ts
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ import {
   adminTopicsChannel,
   createDiagnosticContext
 } from '../../diagnostic.ts'
-import { MultipleErrors } from '../../errors.ts'
+import { MultipleErrors, UserError } from '../../errors.ts'
 import { type Broker, type Connection } from '../../index.ts'
 import { Reader } from '../../protocol/reader.ts'
 import {
@@ -2350,15 +2350,26 @@ export class Admin extends Base<AdminOptions> {
         return
       }
 
+      // metadata must be defined at this point
+      const { topics, brokers } = metadata!
+
       const requests = new Map<number, ListOffsetsRequestTopic[]>()
 
       for (const topic of options.topics) {
         for (const partition of topic.partitions) {
-          const { leader, leaderEpoch } = metadata!.topics.get(topic.name)!.partitions[partition.partitionIndex]
-          let leaderRequests = requests.get(leader)
+          // topics.get(topic.name) must be defined as the metadata request was successful
+          const topicData = topics.get(topic.name)!
+
+          const targetPartitionData = topicData.partitions[partition.partitionIndex]
+          if (!targetPartitionData) {
+            callback(new UserError(`Unknown partition ${partition.partitionIndex} for topic ${topic.name}.`))
+            return
+          }
+
+          let leaderRequests = requests.get(targetPartitionData.leader)
           if (!leaderRequests) {
             leaderRequests = []
-            requests.set(leader, leaderRequests)
+            requests.set(targetPartitionData.leader, leaderRequests)
           }
 
           let topicRequest = leaderRequests.find(t => t.name === topic.name)
@@ -2369,7 +2380,7 @@ export class Admin extends Base<AdminOptions> {
 
           topicRequest.partitions.push({
             partitionIndex: partition.partitionIndex,
-            currentLeaderEpoch: leaderEpoch,
+            currentLeaderEpoch: targetPartitionData.leaderEpoch,
             /* c8 ignore next - Hard to test */
             timestamp: partition.timestamp ?? -1n
           })
@@ -2380,7 +2391,7 @@ export class Admin extends Base<AdminOptions> {
         'Listing offsets failed.',
         requests,
         ([leader, requests], concurrentCallback) => {
-          this[kGetConnection](metadata!.brokers.get(leader)!, (error, connection) => {
+          this[kGetConnection](brokers.get(leader)!, (error, connection) => {
             if (error) {
               concurrentCallback(error)
               return
diff --git a/src/clients/base/base.ts b/src/clients/base/base.ts
index f6915c57..dec486a0 100644
--- a/src/clients/base/base.ts
+++ b/src/clients/base/base.ts
@@ -594,6 +594,16 @@ export class Base<
           },
           (error, metadata) => {
             if (error) {
+              const unknownTopicError = (error as GenericError).findBy('apiCode', 3)
+              if (unknownTopicError) {
+                const topicIndexMatch = unknownTopicError.path?.match(/\/topics\/(\d+)/)
+                const topicIndex = topicIndexMatch ? parseInt(topicIndexMatch[1]) : -1
+                const topicName =
+                  topicIndex >= 0 && topicIndex < topicsToFetch.length ? topicsToFetch[topicIndex] : 'unknown'
+                deduplicateCallback(new UserError(`Unknown topic ${topicName}.`))
+                return
+              }
+
               const hasStaleMetadata = (error as GenericError).findBy('hasStaleMetadata', true)
 
               // Stale metadata, we need to fetch everything again
diff --git a/test/clients/admin/admin.test.ts b/test/clients/admin/admin.test.ts
index 30642f8e..433a54b5 100644
--- a/test/clients/admin/admin.test.ts
+++ b/test/clients/admin/admin.test.ts
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ import {
   sleep,
   stringSerializers,
   UnsupportedApiError,
+  UserError,
   type Writer
 } from '../../../src/index.ts'
 import {
@@ -990,15 +991,15 @@ test('deleteTopics should not deduplicate deletion of different topics', async t
       await admin.metadata({ topics: [topicNames[0]] })
       throw Error('Topic still exists: ' + topicNames[0])
     } catch (error) {
-      // ApiCode 3 = UnknownTopicOrPartition
-      ok(error.findBy?.('apiCode', 3))
+      // UserError is thrown for unknown topics
+      ok(error instanceof UserError)
     }
     try {
       await admin.metadata({ topics: [topicNames[1]] })
       throw Error('Topic still exists: ' + topicNames[1])
     } catch (error) {
-      // ApiCode 3 = UnknownTopicOrPartition
-      ok(error.findBy?.('apiCode', 3))
+      // UserError is thrown for unknown topics
+      ok(error instanceof UserError)
     }
   })
 })
diff --git a/test/clients/base/base.test.ts b/test/clients/base/base.test.ts
index d96de7e1..9c6f747e 100644
--- a/test/clients/base/base.test.ts
+++ b/test/clients/base/base.test.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import {
   UnsupportedApiError,
   type Broker,
   type CallbackWithPromise,
+  UserError,
   type ClientDiagnosticEvent,
   type ClusterMetadata
 } from '../../../src/index.ts'
@@ -730,9 +731,8 @@ test('kPerformWithRetry should not leak timers', async t => {
   // If the timeout was already resolved, the test runner would complain
   const error = await promise
 
-  ok(error instanceof MultipleErrors)
-  strictEqual(error.errors.length, 2)
-  ok(error.errors[1].message.startsWith('Client closed while retrying'))
+  // UserError is thrown for unknown topics
+  ok(error instanceof UserError)
 })
 
 test('kPerformWithRetry should accept a custom function', async t => {
diff --git a/test/clients/consumer/consumer.test.ts b/test/clients/consumer/consumer.test.ts
index ebd45bf9..0fbc3c55 100644
--- a/test/clients/consumer/consumer.test.ts
+++ b/test/clients/consumer/consumer.test.ts
@@ -2563,11 +2563,11 @@ test('startLagMonitoring should handle errors', async t => {
   const topic = await createTopic(t, true, 3)
   const consumer = createConsumer(t)
 
-  const { promise, resolve } = promiseWithResolvers<MultipleErrors>()
+  const { promise, resolve } = promiseWithResolvers<UserError>()
   consumer.startLagMonitoring({ topics: ['invalid'] }, 1000)
 
   consumer.on('consumer:lag:error', error => {
-    resolve(error as MultipleErrors)
+    resolve(error as UserError)
   })
 
   await consumer.consume({
@@ -2579,8 +2579,8 @@ test('startLagMonitoring should handle errors', async t => {
   })
 
   const error = await promise
-  ok(MultipleErrors.isMultipleErrors(error))
-  deepStrictEqual(error.errors[0].errors[0].message, 'This server does not host this topic-partition.')
+  ok(error instanceof UserError)
+  ok(error.message.startsWith('Unknown topic '))
 })
 
 test('findGroupCoordinator should return the coordinator nodeId and support diagnostic channels', async t => {