diff --git a/power_grid_model_c/power_grid_model/include/power_grid_model/auxiliary/serialization/deserializer.hpp b/power_grid_model_c/power_grid_model/include/power_grid_model/auxiliary/serialization/deserializer.hpp
index b63870ea93..73ed01b4f9 100644
--- a/power_grid_model_c/power_grid_model/include/power_grid_model/auxiliary/serialization/deserializer.hpp
+++ b/power_grid_model_c/power_grid_model/include/power_grid_model/auxiliary/serialization/deserializer.hpp
@@ -703,7 +703,7 @@ class Deserializer {
     void parse_component(Idx component_idx) {
         if (dataset_handler_.is_row_based(component_idx)) {
             parse_component(row_based, component_idx);
-        } else {
+        } else if (!dataset_handler_.get_buffer(component_idx).attributes.empty()) {
             parse_component(columnar, component_idx);
         }
     }