diff --git a/orchestration/bulk_document_download_orchestrator.py b/orchestration/bulk_document_download_orchestrator.py
index 54de823bb..39ee7271e 100644
--- a/orchestration/bulk_document_download_orchestrator.py
+++ b/orchestration/bulk_document_download_orchestrator.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ from domain.bulk_document_download.package_plan import (
     SkippedDocument,
     plan_download_package,
 )
+from domain.tasks.subtasks import SubTaskFailure
 from infrastructure.postgres.uploaded_file_table import UploadedFile
 from infrastructure.s3.s3_client import S3Client
 from repositories.email.email_sender import EmailSender
@@ -81,6 +82,23 @@ class BulkDocumentDownloadOrchestrator:
         resolved = [self._resolve(file) for file in files]
         plan = plan_download_package([r for r in resolved if r is not None])
 
+        if not plan.entries:
+            # Nothing to package (ADR-0060): a recorded failure, not an empty
+            # ZIP emailed to the user. The skip detail rides on the failure.
+            raise SubTaskFailure(
+                "no documents resolved for the selection",
+                details={
+                    "skipped": [
+                        {
+                            "landlord_property_id": s.landlord_property_id,
+                            "s3_key": s.s3_key,
+                            "reason": s.reason,
+                        }
+                        for s in plan.skipped
+                    ]
+                },
+            )
+
         buffer = io.BytesIO()
         with zipfile.ZipFile(buffer, "w", zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED) as archive:
             for entry in plan.entries: