diff --git a/src/api/projects.tsx b/src/api/projects.tsx
index 502e85ffcb..93f0434cf0 100644
--- a/src/api/projects.tsx
+++ b/src/api/projects.tsx
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ const projectEntitlements = [
   "can_create_storage_volumes",
   "can_delete",
   "can_edit",
+  "can_view_events",
 ];
 
 export const fetchProjects = async (
diff --git a/src/components/Navigation.tsx b/src/components/Navigation.tsx
index 61732c3ced..1309d181ff 100644
--- a/src/components/Navigation.tsx
+++ b/src/components/Navigation.tsx
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import { enablePermissionsFeature } from "util/permissions";
 import type { Location } from "react-router-dom";
 import { useLocation } from "react-router-dom";
 import { useLoggedInUser } from "context/useLoggedInUser";
+import ProjectPermissionWarning from "pages/projects/ProjectPermissionWarning";
 
 const isSmallScreen = () => isWidthBelow(620);
 
@@ -473,6 +474,7 @@ const Navigation: FC = () => {
                           <></>
                         )}
                         <div className="u-truncate">{loggedInUserName}</div>
+                        <ProjectPermissionWarning />
                       </div>
                     </SideNavigationItem>
                   )}
diff --git a/src/components/NoProject.tsx b/src/components/NoProject.tsx
index 81647fc766..f604eb403d 100644
--- a/src/components/NoProject.tsx
+++ b/src/components/NoProject.tsx
@@ -4,30 +4,29 @@ import CustomLayout from "./CustomLayout";
 
 const NoProject: FC = () => {
   const url = location.pathname;
-  const project = url.startsWith("/ui/project/")
-    ? url.split("/")[3]
-    : "default";
+  const hasProjectInUrl = url.startsWith("/ui/project/");
+  const project = hasProjectInUrl ? url.split("/")[3] : "default";
 
   return (
     <CustomLayout mainClassName="no-match">
       <Row>
         <Col size={6} className="col-start-large-4">
-          <h1 className="p-heading--4">Project not found</h1>
-          <p>
-            The project <code>{project}</code> is missing or you do not have
-            access.
-            <br />
-            If you think this is an error in our product, please{" "}
-            <a
-              href="https://github.com/canonical/lxd-ui/issues/new"
-              target="_blank"
-              rel="noopener noreferrer"
-              title="Report a bug"
-            >
-              Report a bug
-            </a>
-            .
-          </p>
+          {hasProjectInUrl ? (
+            <>
+              <h1 className="p-heading--4">Project not found</h1>
+              <p>
+                The project <code>{project}</code> is missing or you do not have
+                the <code>viewer</code> permission for it.
+              </p>
+            </>
+          ) : (
+            <>
+              <h1 className="p-heading--4">Permission denied</h1>
+              <p>
+                You do not have permission to view any project on this server.
+              </p>
+            </>
+          )}
         </Col>
       </Row>
     </CustomLayout>
diff --git a/src/pages/profiles/ProfileList.tsx b/src/pages/profiles/ProfileList.tsx
index c554788408..a8483840d9 100644
--- a/src/pages/profiles/ProfileList.tsx
+++ b/src/pages/profiles/ProfileList.tsx
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { useState } from "react";
 import {
   Button,
   Col,
+  EmptyState,
   Icon,
   MainTable,
   Notification,
@@ -169,6 +170,10 @@ const ProfileList: FC = () => {
 
   const { rows: sortedRows, updateSort } = useSortTableData({ rows });
 
+  if (isLoading) {
+    return <Loader text="Loading profiles..." />;
+  }
+
   return (
     <>
       <CustomLayout
@@ -185,19 +190,21 @@ const ProfileList: FC = () => {
                   Profiles
                 </HelpLink>
               </PageHeader.Title>
-              <PageHeader.Search>
-                <SearchBox
-                  className="search-box margin-right u-no-margin--bottom"
-                  name="search-profile"
-                  type="text"
-                  onChange={(value) => {
-                    setQuery(value);
-                  }}
-                  placeholder="Search"
-                  value={query}
-                  aria-label="Search"
-                />
-              </PageHeader.Search>
+              {profiles.length > 0 && (
+                <PageHeader.Search>
+                  <SearchBox
+                    className="search-box margin-right u-no-margin--bottom"
+                    name="search-profile"
+                    type="text"
+                    onChange={(value) => {
+                      setQuery(value);
+                    }}
+                    placeholder="Search"
+                    value={query}
+                    aria-label="Search"
+                  />
+                </PageHeader.Search>
+              )}
             </PageHeader.Left>
             {featuresProfiles && (
               <PageHeader.BaseActions>
@@ -226,40 +233,45 @@ const ProfileList: FC = () => {
         <NotificationRow />
         <Row className="no-grid-gap">
           <Col size={12}>
-            {!isLoading && !featuresProfiles && (
+            {!featuresProfiles && (
               <Notification severity="caution" title="Profiles disabled">
                 The feature has been disabled on a project level. All the
                 available profiles are inherited from the{" "}
                 <Link to="/ui/project/default/profiles">default project</Link>.
               </Notification>
             )}
-            <ScrollableTable
-              dependencies={[filteredProfiles, notify.notification]}
-              tableId="profile-table"
-              belowIds={["status-bar"]}
-            >
-              <TablePagination
-                id="pagination"
-                data={sortedRows}
-                itemName="profile"
-                className="u-no-margin--top"
-                aria-label="Table pagination control"
+            {profiles.length === 0 && (
+              <EmptyState
+                className="empty-state"
+                image={<Icon name="repository" className="empty-state-icon" />}
+                title="No profiles found"
               >
-                <MainTable
-                  id="profile-table"
-                  headers={headers}
-                  sortable
-                  emptyStateMsg={
-                    isLoading ? (
-                      <Loader text="Loading profiles..." />
-                    ) : (
-                      <>No profile found matching this search</>
-                    )
-                  }
-                  onUpdateSort={updateSort}
-                />
-              </TablePagination>
-            </ScrollableTable>
+                <p>There are no profiles in this project.</p>
+              </EmptyState>
+            )}
+            {profiles.length > 0 && (
+              <ScrollableTable
+                dependencies={[filteredProfiles, notify.notification]}
+                tableId="profile-table"
+                belowIds={["status-bar"]}
+              >
+                <TablePagination
+                  id="pagination"
+                  data={sortedRows}
+                  itemName="profile"
+                  className="u-no-margin--top"
+                  aria-label="Table pagination control"
+                >
+                  <MainTable
+                    id="profile-table"
+                    headers={headers}
+                    sortable
+                    emptyStateMsg="No profile found matching this search"
+                    onUpdateSort={updateSort}
+                  />
+                </TablePagination>
+              </ScrollableTable>
+            )}
           </Col>
         </Row>
       </CustomLayout>
diff --git a/src/pages/projects/ProjectPermissionWarning.tsx b/src/pages/projects/ProjectPermissionWarning.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..65c6189880
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pages/projects/ProjectPermissionWarning.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+import { Button, Icon, Modal, usePortal } from "@canonical/react-components";
+import { useCurrentProject } from "context/useCurrentProject";
+import { useProjectEntitlements } from "util/entitlements/projects";
+import { useEffect } from "react";
+import { useSettings } from "context/useSettings";
+
+const ProjectPermissionWarning = () => {
+  const { isLoading: isSettingsLoading } = useSettings();
+  const { project, isLoading: isProjectLoading } = useCurrentProject();
+  const { canViewEvents } = useProjectEntitlements();
+  const { openPortal, closePortal, isOpen, Portal } = usePortal({
+    programmaticallyOpen: true,
+  });
+
+  const hasWarning =
+    !isProjectLoading && !isSettingsLoading && !canViewEvents(project);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (hasWarning) {
+      openPortal();
+    }
+  }, [hasWarning]);
+
+  if (!hasWarning) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  return (
+    <div>
+      <Button
+        onClick={() => {
+          openPortal();
+        }}
+        appearance="base"
+        className="u-no-margin--bottom"
+        title="Missing viewer permission"
+      >
+        <Icon name="warning" className="is-light" />
+      </Button>
+      {isOpen && (
+        <Portal>
+          <Modal title="Missing viewer permission" close={closePortal}>
+            <p>
+              You do not have the <code>viewer</code> permission for the
+              selected project.
+            </p>
+            <p>
+              Changes made in the UI will not be visible without manual reload
+              of the page.
+            </p>
+            <p>
+              Your UI experience is limited because of that. Contact your
+              administrator to add the necessary permissions for your user.
+            </p>
+            <footer className="p-modal__footer" id="modal-footer">
+              <Button
+                appearance="positive"
+                className="u-no-margin--bottom"
+                onClick={closePortal}
+              >
+                Accept
+              </Button>
+            </footer>
+          </Modal>
+        </Portal>
+      )}
+    </div>
+  );
+};
+
+export default ProjectPermissionWarning;
diff --git a/src/pages/warnings/WarningList.tsx b/src/pages/warnings/WarningList.tsx
index 9c64cab6d8..6be4e7fe8a 100644
--- a/src/pages/warnings/WarningList.tsx
+++ b/src/pages/warnings/WarningList.tsx
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ const WarningList: FC = () => {
   } = useQuery({
     queryKey: [queryKeys.warnings],
     queryFn: fetchWarnings,
+    retry: false, // the api returns a 403 for users with limited permissions, surface the error right away
   });
 
   if (error) {
diff --git a/src/util/entitlements/projects.tsx b/src/util/entitlements/projects.tsx
index 074da25e98..d28072cb0b 100644
--- a/src/util/entitlements/projects.tsx
+++ b/src/util/entitlements/projects.tsx
@@ -53,6 +53,13 @@ export const useProjectEntitlements = () => {
   const canEditProject = (project?: LxdProject) =>
     hasEntitlement(isFineGrained, "can_edit", project?.access_entitlements);
 
+  const canViewEvents = (project?: LxdProject) =>
+    hasEntitlement(
+      isFineGrained,
+      "can_view_events",
+      project?.access_entitlements,
+    );
+
   return {
     canCreateImageAliases,
     canCreateImages,
@@ -62,5 +69,6 @@ export const useProjectEntitlements = () => {
     canCreateStorageVolumes,
     canDeleteProject,
     canEditProject,
+    canViewEvents,
   };
 };