diff --git a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/LeaseCleanupManager.java b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/LeaseCleanupManager.java
index de734646..4e43c638 100644
--- a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/LeaseCleanupManager.java
+++ b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/LeaseCleanupManager.java
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ public class LeaseCleanupManager {
      */
     public void start() {
         log.debug("Starting lease cleanup thread.");
+        isRunning = true;
         completedLeaseStopwatch.start();
         garbageLeaseStopwatch.start();