diff --git a/packages/ra-ui-materialui/src/list/ListView.tsx b/packages/ra-ui-materialui/src/list/ListView.tsx
index c7b9edee0e1..2ea34aefde6 100644
--- a/packages/ra-ui-materialui/src/list/ListView.tsx
+++ b/packages/ra-ui-materialui/src/list/ListView.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import * as React from 'react';
-import { Children, cloneElement, ReactElement } from 'react';
+import { Children, cloneElement, isValidElement, ReactElement } from 'react';
 import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
 import Card from '@material-ui/core/Card';
 import classnames from 'classnames';
@@ -68,11 +68,15 @@ export const ListView = (props: ListViewProps) => {
                     })}
                     key={version}
                 >
-                    {bulkActionButtons !== false && bulkActionButtons && (
+                    {bulkActionButtons !== false ? (
                         <BulkActionsToolbar {...controllerProps}>
-                            {bulkActionButtons}
+                            {isValidElement(bulkActionButtons) ? (
+                                bulkActionButtons
+                            ) : (
+                                <DefaultBulkActionButtons />
+                            )}
                         </BulkActionsToolbar>
-                    )}
+                    ) : null}
                     {children &&
                         // @ts-ignore-line
                         cloneElement(Children.only(children), {
diff --git a/packages/ra-ui-materialui/src/types.ts b/packages/ra-ui-materialui/src/types.ts
index 1b24698f70b..92980751e52 100644
--- a/packages/ra-ui-materialui/src/types.ts
+++ b/packages/ra-ui-materialui/src/types.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import {
 export interface ListProps extends ResourceComponentProps {
     actions?: ReactElement | false;
     aside?: ReactElement;
-    bulkActionButtons?: ReactElement | false;
+    bulkActionButtons?: ReactElement | boolean;
     classes?: any;
     className?: string;
     component?: ElementType;