diff --git a/vike/node/runtime/renderPage/createHttpResponse.ts b/vike/node/runtime/renderPage/createHttpResponse.ts
index 7392b04d7c5..cc809e14c57 100644
--- a/vike/node/runtime/renderPage/createHttpResponse.ts
+++ b/vike/node/runtime/renderPage/createHttpResponse.ts
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ type ContentType = HttpResponse['contentType']
 type ResponseHeaders = HttpResponse['headers']
 
 async function createHttpResponse(
-  htmlRender: null | HtmlRender,
+  htmlRender: HtmlRender,
   renderHook: null | RenderHook,
   pageContext: {
     _pageId: null | string
@@ -41,11 +41,7 @@ async function createHttpResponse(
     _pageConfigs: PageConfigRuntime[]
     abortStatusCode?: AbortStatusCode
   }
-): Promise<HttpResponse | null> {
-  if (htmlRender === null) {
-    return null
-  }
-
+): Promise<HttpResponse> {
   let statusCode: StatusCode | undefined = pageContext.abortStatusCode
   if (!statusCode) {
     const isError = !pageContext._pageId || isErrorPage(pageContext._pageId, pageContext._pageConfigs)
diff --git a/vike/node/runtime/renderPage/executeOnRenderHtmlHook.ts b/vike/node/runtime/renderPage/executeOnRenderHtmlHook.ts
index c20c6c75e2b..fdc24c86cd6 100644
--- a/vike/node/runtime/renderPage/executeOnRenderHtmlHook.ts
+++ b/vike/node/runtime/renderPage/executeOnRenderHtmlHook.ts
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ async function executeOnRenderHtmlHook(
     }
 ): Promise<{
   renderHook: RenderHook
-  htmlRender: null | HtmlRender
+  htmlRender: HtmlRender
 }> {
   const { renderHook, hookFn } = getRenderHook(pageContext)
   objectAssign(pageContext, { _renderHook: renderHook })
@@ -62,10 +62,6 @@ async function executeOnRenderHtmlHook(
   Object.assign(pageContext, pageContextProvidedByRenderHook)
   objectAssign(pageContext, { _pageContextPromise: pageContextPromise })
 
-  if (documentHtml === null || documentHtml === undefined) {
-    return { htmlRender: null, renderHook }
-  }
-
   const onErrorWhileStreaming = (err: unknown) => {
     // Should the stream inject the following?
     // ```
@@ -131,7 +127,7 @@ function getRenderHook(pageContext: PageContextForUserConsumptionServerSide) {
 }
 
 function processHookReturnValue(hookReturnValue: unknown, renderHook: RenderHook) {
-  let documentHtml: null | DocumentHtml = null
+  let documentHtml: DocumentHtml
   let pageContextPromise: PageContextPromise = null
   let pageContextProvidedByRenderHook: null | Record<string, unknown> = null
   let injectFilter: PreloadFilter = null
@@ -179,7 +175,11 @@ function processHookReturnValue(hookReturnValue: unknown, renderHook: RenderHook
     injectFilter = hookReturnValue.injectFilter
   }
 
-  if (hookReturnValue.documentHtml) {
+  assertUsage(
+    hookReturnValue.documentHtml,
+    `${errPrefix} returned an object that is missing the ${pc.code('documentHtml')} property.`
+  )
+  {
     let val = hookReturnValue.documentHtml
     const errBegin = `${errPrefix} returned ${pc.cyan('{ documentHtml }')}, but ${pc.cyan('documentHtml')}` as const
     if (typeof val === 'string') {
diff --git a/vike/node/runtime/renderPage/renderPageAlreadyRouted.ts b/vike/node/runtime/renderPage/renderPageAlreadyRouted.ts
index c46e47a29cc..0ffd3975a8a 100644
--- a/vike/node/runtime/renderPage/renderPageAlreadyRouted.ts
+++ b/vike/node/runtime/renderPage/renderPageAlreadyRouted.ts
@@ -85,15 +85,10 @@ async function renderPageAlreadyRouted<
 
   const renderHookResult = await executeOnRenderHtmlHook(pageContext)
 
-  if (renderHookResult.htmlRender === null) {
-    objectAssign(pageContext, { httpResponse: null })
-    return pageContext
-  } else {
-    const { htmlRender, renderHook } = renderHookResult
-    const httpResponse = await createHttpResponse(htmlRender, renderHook, pageContext)
-    objectAssign(pageContext, { httpResponse })
-    return pageContext
-  }
+  const { htmlRender, renderHook } = renderHookResult
+  const httpResponse = await createHttpResponse(htmlRender, renderHook, pageContext)
+  objectAssign(pageContext, { httpResponse })
+  return pageContext
 }
 
 async function prerenderPage(