diff --git a/src/mlpack/core/tree/rectangle_tree/x_tree_split_impl.hpp b/src/mlpack/core/tree/rectangle_tree/x_tree_split_impl.hpp
index c977f0fecb..cc1119a845 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/core/tree/rectangle_tree/x_tree_split_impl.hpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/core/tree/rectangle_tree/x_tree_split_impl.hpp
@@ -435,7 +435,8 @@ bool XTreeSplit::SplitNonLeafNode(TreeType *tree, std::vector<bool>& relevels)
     bool useMinOverlapSplit = false;
     if (tiedOnOverlap)
     {
-      if (overlapBestAreaAxis / areaBestAreaAxis < MAX_OVERLAP)
+      if (MAX_OVERLAP > 0 &&
+          overlapBestAreaAxis / areaBestAreaAxis < MAX_OVERLAP)
       {
         tree->numDescendants = 0;
         tree->bound.Clear();