diff --git a/src/useradd.c b/src/useradd.c
index 1b516c25..3544acd0 100644
--- a/src/useradd.c
+++ b/src/useradd.c
@@ -2247,7 +2247,10 @@ static void create_home (void)
 		(void) chown (prefix_user_home, user_id, user_gid);
 		mode_t mode = getdef_num ("HOME_MODE",
 		                          0777 & ~getdef_num ("UMASK", GETDEF_DEFAULT_UMASK));
-		chmod (prefix_user_home, mode);
+		if (chmod (prefix_user_home, mode)) {
+			fprintf (stderr, _("%s: warning: chown on '%s' failed: %m\n"),
+			                 Prog, path);
+		}
 		home_added = true;
 #ifdef WITH_AUDIT
 		audit_logger (AUDIT_ADD_USER, Prog,