diff --git a/internal/informer.go b/internal/informer.go
index cb3c998..e4beb9f 100644
--- a/internal/informer.go
+++ b/internal/informer.go
@@ -11,9 +11,6 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache"
 )
 
-// StartLeaseInformer starts a long-running informer watching Lease objects in the kube-system namespace.
-// It will react to Add/Update events for leases whose name starts with "cilium-l2announce" and label
-// the corresponding node.
 func StartLeaseInformer(cfg *Config, stopCh <-chan struct{}) error {
 	log.WithFields(log.Fields{"Caller": "StartLeaseInformer"}).Info("Starting lease informer")
 
@@ -40,11 +37,26 @@ func StartLeaseInformer(cfg *Config, stopCh <-chan struct{}) error {
 			if okNew {
 				log.WithFields(log.Fields{"Caller": "lease.Update.new", "Lease": newL.Name, "RV": newL.ResourceVersion}).Debug("New lease")
 			}
-			// Only handle when resourceVersion changed (actual update), skip resync/identical events
+			// Only handle when either:
+			// - the object is not parseable as Lease (defensive), or
+			// - it's an Add-like event (old not present), or
+			// - HolderIdentity actually changed compared to previous object.
 			if okOld && okNew {
+				// If resourceVersion didn't change, skip (no real update)
 				if oldL.ResourceVersion == newL.ResourceVersion {
 					return
 				}
+				oldHolder := ""
+				newHolder := ""
+				if oldL.Spec.HolderIdentity != nil {
+					oldHolder = *oldL.Spec.HolderIdentity
+				}
+				if newL.Spec.HolderIdentity != nil {
+					newHolder = *newL.Spec.HolderIdentity
+				}
+				if oldHolder == newHolder {
+					return
+				}
 			}
 			handleLease(newObj, cfg)
 		},