diff --git a/pkg/resourcequota/resource_quota_controller.go b/pkg/resourcequota/resource_quota_controller.go
index 93006679b88..3d651c12fc8 100644
--- a/pkg/resourcequota/resource_quota_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/resourcequota/resource_quota_controller.go
@@ -108,10 +108,13 @@ func FilterQuotaPods(pods []api.Pod) []api.Pod {
 // syncResourceQuota runs a complete sync of current status
 func (rm *ResourceQuotaManager) syncResourceQuota(quota api.ResourceQuota) (err error) {
 
+	// quota is dirty if any part of spec hard limits differs from the status hard limits
+	dirty := !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(quota.Spec.Hard, quota.Status.Hard)
+
 	// dirty tracks if the usage status differs from the previous sync,
 	// if so, we send a new usage with latest status
 	// if this is our first sync, it will be dirty by default, since we need track usage
-	dirty := quota.Status.Hard == nil || quota.Status.Used == nil
+	dirty = dirty || (quota.Status.Hard == nil || quota.Status.Used == nil)
 
 	// Create a usage object that is based on the quota resource version
 	usage := api.ResourceQuota{
diff --git a/pkg/resourcequota/resource_quota_controller_test.go b/pkg/resourcequota/resource_quota_controller_test.go
index 45813dcaa32..8d03ab44c34 100644
--- a/pkg/resourcequota/resource_quota_controller_test.go
+++ b/pkg/resourcequota/resource_quota_controller_test.go
@@ -179,3 +179,91 @@ func TestSyncResourceQuota(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 }
+
+func TestSyncResourceQuotaSpecChange(t *testing.T) {
+	quota := api.ResourceQuota{
+		Spec: api.ResourceQuotaSpec{
+			Hard: api.ResourceList{
+				api.ResourceCPU: resource.MustParse("4"),
+			},
+		},
+		Status: api.ResourceQuotaStatus{
+			Hard: api.ResourceList{
+				api.ResourceCPU: resource.MustParse("3"),
+			},
+			Used: api.ResourceList{
+				api.ResourceCPU: resource.MustParse("0"),
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	expectedUsage := api.ResourceQuota{
+		Status: api.ResourceQuotaStatus{
+			Hard: api.ResourceList{
+				api.ResourceCPU: resource.MustParse("4"),
+			},
+			Used: api.ResourceList{
+				api.ResourceCPU: resource.MustParse("0"),
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	kubeClient := testclient.NewSimpleFake(&quota)
+
+	resourceQuotaManager := NewResourceQuotaManager(kubeClient)
+	err := resourceQuotaManager.syncResourceQuota(quota)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Unexpected error %v", err)
+	}
+
+	usage := kubeClient.Actions[1].Value.(*api.ResourceQuota)
+
+	// ensure hard and used limits are what we expected
+	for k, v := range expectedUsage.Status.Hard {
+		actual := usage.Status.Hard[k]
+		actualValue := actual.String()
+		expectedValue := v.String()
+		if expectedValue != actualValue {
+			t.Errorf("Usage Hard: Key: %v, Expected: %v, Actual: %v", k, expectedValue, actualValue)
+		}
+	}
+	for k, v := range expectedUsage.Status.Used {
+		actual := usage.Status.Used[k]
+		actualValue := actual.String()
+		expectedValue := v.String()
+		if expectedValue != actualValue {
+			t.Errorf("Usage Used: Key: %v, Expected: %v, Actual: %v", k, expectedValue, actualValue)
+		}
+	}
+
+}
+
+func TestSyncResourceQuotaNoChange(t *testing.T) {
+	quota := api.ResourceQuota{
+		Spec: api.ResourceQuotaSpec{
+			Hard: api.ResourceList{
+				api.ResourceCPU: resource.MustParse("4"),
+			},
+		},
+		Status: api.ResourceQuotaStatus{
+			Hard: api.ResourceList{
+				api.ResourceCPU: resource.MustParse("4"),
+			},
+			Used: api.ResourceList{
+				api.ResourceCPU: resource.MustParse("0"),
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	kubeClient := testclient.NewSimpleFake(&api.PodList{}, &quota)
+
+	resourceQuotaManager := NewResourceQuotaManager(kubeClient)
+	err := resourceQuotaManager.syncResourceQuota(quota)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Unexpected error %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if len(kubeClient.Actions) != 1 && kubeClient.Actions[0].Action != "list-pods" {
+		t.Errorf("SyncResourceQuota made an unexpected client action when state was not dirty: %v", kubeClient.Actions)
+	}
+}