diff --git a/internal/cmd/agent/deployer/deployer.go b/internal/cmd/agent/deployer/deployer.go
index 4cf181f655..d77919ebe5 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/agent/deployer/deployer.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/agent/deployer/deployer.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/log"
 )
@@ -161,20 +162,15 @@ func (d *Deployer) updateNamespace(ctx context.Context, ns *corev1.Namespace) er
 }
 
 // fetchNamespace gets the namespace matching the release ID. Returns an error if none is found.
+// releaseID is composed of release.Namespace/release.Name/release.Version
 func (d *Deployer) fetchNamespace(ctx context.Context, releaseID string) (*corev1.Namespace, error) {
-	// releaseID is composed of release.Namespace/release.Name/release.Version
 	namespace := strings.Split(releaseID, "/")[0]
-	list := &corev1.NamespaceList{}
-	err := d.client.List(ctx, list, client.MatchingLabels{
-		corev1.LabelMetadataName: namespace,
-	})
+	ns := &corev1.Namespace{}
+	err := d.client.Get(ctx, types.NamespacedName{Name: namespace}, ns)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	if len(list.Items) == 0 {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("namespace %s not found", namespace)
-	}
-	return &list.Items[0], nil
+	return ns, nil
 }
 
 // addLabelsFromOptions updates nsLabels so that it only contains all labels specified in optLabels, plus the `kubernetes.io/metadata.name` labels added by kubernetes when creating the namespace.
diff --git a/internal/cmd/agent/deployer/deployer_test.go b/internal/cmd/agent/deployer/deployer_test.go
index 4e82b9d256..c12c8fc76a 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/agent/deployer/deployer_test.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/agent/deployer/deployer_test.go
@@ -2,12 +2,12 @@ package deployer
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"errors"
 	"testing"
 
 	fleet "github.com/rancher/fleet/pkg/apis/fleet.cattle.io/v1alpha1"
 
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	apierrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
@@ -32,13 +32,14 @@ func TestSetNamespaceLabelsAndAnnotations(t *testing.T) {
 			}},
 			ns: corev1.Namespace{
 				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
-					Name:   "namespace1234",
+					Name:   "namespace",
 					Labels: map[string]string{"kubernetes.io/metadata.name": "namespace"},
 				},
 			},
 			release: "namespace/foo/bar",
 			expectedNs: corev1.Namespace{
 				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+					Name:        "namespace",
 					Labels:      map[string]string{"kubernetes.io/metadata.name": "namespace", "optLabel1": "optValue1", "optLabel2": "optValue2"},
 					Annotations: map[string]string{"optAnn1": "optValue1"},
 				},
@@ -54,7 +55,7 @@ func TestSetNamespaceLabelsAndAnnotations(t *testing.T) {
 			}},
 			ns: corev1.Namespace{
 				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
-					Name:        "namespace1234",
+					Name:        "namespace",
 					Labels:      map[string]string{"nsLabel": "nsValue", "kubernetes.io/metadata.name": "namespace"},
 					Annotations: map[string]string{"nsAnn": "nsValue"},
 				},
@@ -62,6 +63,7 @@ func TestSetNamespaceLabelsAndAnnotations(t *testing.T) {
 			release: "namespace/foo/bar",
 			expectedNs: corev1.Namespace{
 				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+					Name:        "namespace",
 					Labels:      map[string]string{"optLabel": "optValue", "kubernetes.io/metadata.name": "namespace"},
 					Annotations: map[string]string{},
 				},
@@ -77,7 +79,7 @@ func TestSetNamespaceLabelsAndAnnotations(t *testing.T) {
 			}},
 			ns: corev1.Namespace{
 				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
-					Name:        "namespace1234",
+					Name:        "namespace",
 					Labels:      map[string]string{"bdLabel": "nsValue", "kubernetes.io/metadata.name": "namespace"},
 					Annotations: map[string]string{"bdAnn": "nsValue"},
 				},
@@ -85,6 +87,7 @@ func TestSetNamespaceLabelsAndAnnotations(t *testing.T) {
 			release: "namespace/foo/bar",
 			expectedNs: corev1.Namespace{
 				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+					Name:        "namespace",
 					Labels:      map[string]string{"bdLabel": "labelUpdated", "kubernetes.io/metadata.name": "namespace"},
 					Annotations: map[string]string{"bdAnn": "annUpdated"},
 				},
@@ -132,7 +135,6 @@ func TestSetNamespaceLabelsAndAnnotationsError(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 	}}
 	release := "test/foo/bar"
-	expectedErr := errors.New("namespace test not found")
 
 	scheme := runtime.NewScheme()
 	utilruntime.Must(clientgoscheme.AddToScheme(scheme))
@@ -143,7 +145,7 @@ func TestSetNamespaceLabelsAndAnnotationsError(t *testing.T) {
 
 	err := h.setNamespaceLabelsAndAnnotations(context.Background(), bd, release)
 
-	if err.Error() != expectedErr.Error() {
-		t.Errorf("expected error %v: got %v", expectedErr, err)
+	if !apierrors.IsNotFound(err) {
+		t.Errorf("expected not found error: got %v", err)
 	}
 }