diff --git a/src/tex2lyx/Preamble.cpp b/src/tex2lyx/Preamble.cpp
index 6dcbd5097c..15b41e65cb 100644
--- a/src/tex2lyx/Preamble.cpp
+++ b/src/tex2lyx/Preamble.cpp
@@ -1937,7 +1937,7 @@ void Preamble::parse(Parser & p, string const & forceclass,
 	if (!forceclass.empty())
 		h_textclass = forceclass;
 	tc.setName(h_textclass);
-	if (!tc.load()) {
+	if (!LayoutFileList::get().haveClass(h_textclass) || !tc.load()) {
 		cerr << "Error: Could not read layout file for textclass \"" << h_textclass << "\"." << endl;
 		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 	}