diff --git a/src/pacman/query.c b/src/pacman/query.c
index 513ddb7a..784936b9 100644
--- a/src/pacman/query.c
+++ b/src/pacman/query.c
@@ -209,6 +209,11 @@ static int query_fileowner(alpm_list_t *targets)
 			strcat(rpath + rlen, "/");
 		}
 
+		if (access(rel_path, F_OK) == -1) {
+			pm_printf(ALPM_LOG_ERROR, _("File does not exist: %s\n"), rel_path);
+			goto targcleanup;
+		}
+
 		for(i = packages; i && (!found || is_dir); i = alpm_list_next(i)) {
 			if(alpm_filelist_contains(alpm_pkg_get_files(i->data), rel_path)) {
 				print_query_fileowner(rpath, i->data);