diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/assignment/AssignProcedure.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/assignment/AssignProcedure.java
index 01a5f833f4b..3eba571194b 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/assignment/AssignProcedure.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/assignment/AssignProcedure.java
@@ -198,6 +198,10 @@ public class AssignProcedure extends RegionTransitionProcedure {
           // Try and keep the location we had before we offlined.
           retain = true;
           regionNode.setRegionLocation(lastRegionLocation);
+        } else if (regionNode.getLastHost() != null) {
+          retain = true;
+          LOG.info("Setting lastHost as the region location " + regionNode.getLastHost());
+          regionNode.setRegionLocation(regionNode.getLastHost());
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestRegionReplicasAreDistributed.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestRegionReplicasAreDistributed.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d6b7e6f424f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestRegionReplicasAreDistributed.java
@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+/**
+ * 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.hadoop.hbase.regionserver;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtility;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HTableDescriptor;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.ServerName;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.RegionInfo;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Table;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MediumTests;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.RegionServerTests;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.RegionSplitter;
+import org.junit.AfterClass;
+import org.junit.BeforeClass;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
+
+@Category({ RegionServerTests.class, MediumTests.class })
+public class TestRegionReplicasAreDistributed {
+
+  private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(TestRegionReplicasAreDistributed.class);
+
+  private static final int NB_SERVERS = 3;
+  private static Table table;
+
+  private static final HBaseTestingUtility HTU = new HBaseTestingUtility();
+  private static final byte[] f = HConstants.CATALOG_FAMILY;
+  Map<ServerName, Collection<RegionInfo>> serverVsOnlineRegions;
+  Map<ServerName, Collection<RegionInfo>> serverVsOnlineRegions2;
+  Map<ServerName, Collection<RegionInfo>> serverVsOnlineRegions3;
+  Map<ServerName, Collection<RegionInfo>> serverVsOnlineRegions4;
+
+  @BeforeClass
+  public static void before() throws Exception {
+    HTU.getConfiguration().setInt(">hbase.master.wait.on.regionservers.mintostart", 3);
+
+    HTU.startMiniCluster(NB_SERVERS);
+    Thread.sleep(3000);
+    final TableName tableName =
+        TableName.valueOf(TestRegionReplicasAreDistributed.class.getSimpleName());
+
+    // Create table then get the single region for our new table.
+    createTableDirectlyFromHTD(tableName);
+  }
+
+  private static void createTableDirectlyFromHTD(final TableName tableName) throws IOException {
+    HTableDescriptor htd = new HTableDescriptor(tableName);
+    htd.setRegionReplication(3);
+    // create a table with 3 replication
+
+    table = HTU.createTable(htd, new byte[][] { f }, getSplits(20),
+      new Configuration(HTU.getConfiguration()));
+  }
+
+  private static byte[][] getSplits(int numRegions) {
+    RegionSplitter.UniformSplit split = new RegionSplitter.UniformSplit();
+    split.setFirstRow(Bytes.toBytes(0L));
+    split.setLastRow(Bytes.toBytes(Long.MAX_VALUE));
+    return split.split(numRegions);
+  }
+
+  @AfterClass
+  public static void afterClass() throws Exception {
+    HRegionServer.TEST_SKIP_REPORTING_TRANSITION = false;
+    table.close();
+    HTU.shutdownMiniCluster();
+  }
+
+  private HRegionServer getRS() {
+    return HTU.getMiniHBaseCluster().getRegionServer(0);
+  }
+
+  private HRegionServer getSecondaryRS() {
+    return HTU.getMiniHBaseCluster().getRegionServer(1);
+  }
+
+  private HRegionServer getTertiaryRS() {
+    return HTU.getMiniHBaseCluster().getRegionServer(2);
+  }
+
+  @Test(timeout = 60000)
+  public void testRegionReplicasCreatedAreDistributed() throws Exception {
+    try {
+      checkAndAssertRegionDistribution(false);
+      // now diesbale and enable the table again. It should be truly distributed
+      HTU.getAdmin().disableTable(table.getName());
+      LOG.info("Disabled the table " + table.getName());
+      LOG.info("enabling the table " + table.getName());
+      HTU.getAdmin().enableTable(table.getName());
+      LOG.info("Enabled the table " + table.getName());
+      boolean res = checkAndAssertRegionDistribution(true);
+      assertTrue("Region retainment not done ", res);
+    } finally {
+      HTU.getAdmin().disableTable(table.getName());
+      HTU.getAdmin().deleteTable(table.getName());
+    }
+  }
+
+  private boolean checkAndAssertRegionDistribution(boolean checkfourth) throws Exception {
+    Collection<RegionInfo> onlineRegions =
+        new ArrayList<RegionInfo>(getRS().getOnlineRegionsLocalContext().size());
+    for (HRegion region : getRS().getOnlineRegionsLocalContext()) {
+      onlineRegions.add(region.getRegionInfo());
+    }
+    if (this.serverVsOnlineRegions == null) {
+      this.serverVsOnlineRegions = new HashMap<ServerName, Collection<RegionInfo>>();
+      this.serverVsOnlineRegions.put(getRS().getServerName(), onlineRegions);
+    } else {
+      Collection<RegionInfo> existingRegions =
+          new ArrayList<RegionInfo>(this.serverVsOnlineRegions.get(getRS().getServerName()));
+      LOG.info("Count is " + existingRegions.size() + " " + onlineRegions.size());
+      for (RegionInfo existingRegion : existingRegions) {
+        if (!onlineRegions.contains(existingRegion)) {
+          return false;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    Collection<RegionInfo> onlineRegions2 =
+        new ArrayList<RegionInfo>(getSecondaryRS().getOnlineRegionsLocalContext().size());
+    for (HRegion region : getSecondaryRS().getOnlineRegionsLocalContext()) {
+      onlineRegions2.add(region.getRegionInfo());
+    }
+    if (this.serverVsOnlineRegions2 == null) {
+      this.serverVsOnlineRegions2 = new HashMap<ServerName, Collection<RegionInfo>>();
+      this.serverVsOnlineRegions2.put(getSecondaryRS().getServerName(), onlineRegions2);
+    } else {
+      Collection<RegionInfo> existingRegions = new ArrayList<RegionInfo>(
+          this.serverVsOnlineRegions2.get(getSecondaryRS().getServerName()));
+      LOG.info("Count is " + existingRegions.size() + " " + onlineRegions2.size());
+      for (RegionInfo existingRegion : existingRegions) {
+        if (!onlineRegions2.contains(existingRegion)) {
+          return false;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    Collection<RegionInfo> onlineRegions3 =
+        new ArrayList<RegionInfo>(getTertiaryRS().getOnlineRegionsLocalContext().size());
+    for (HRegion region : getTertiaryRS().getOnlineRegionsLocalContext()) {
+      onlineRegions3.add(region.getRegionInfo());
+    }
+    if (this.serverVsOnlineRegions3 == null) {
+      this.serverVsOnlineRegions3 = new HashMap<ServerName, Collection<RegionInfo>>();
+      this.serverVsOnlineRegions3.put(getTertiaryRS().getServerName(), onlineRegions3);
+    } else {
+      Collection<RegionInfo> existingRegions = new ArrayList<RegionInfo>(
+          this.serverVsOnlineRegions3.get(getTertiaryRS().getServerName()));
+      LOG.info("Count is " + existingRegions.size() + " " + onlineRegions3.size());
+      for (RegionInfo existingRegion : existingRegions) {
+        if (!onlineRegions3.contains(existingRegion)) {
+          return false;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    // META and namespace to be added
+    return true;
+  }
+}