diff --git a/pkgs/servers/home-assistant/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/home-assistant/default.nix
index 43e332964cf..3ddd25ce8b2 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/home-assistant/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/home-assistant/default.nix
@@ -384,6 +384,14 @@ in with py.pkgs; buildPythonApplication rec {
   preCheck = ''
     # the tests require the existance of a media dir
     mkdir /build/media
+
+    # error out when component test directory is missing, otherwise hidden by xdist execution :(
+    for component in ${lib.concatStringsSep " " (map lib.escapeShellArg componentTests)}; do
+      test -d "tests/components/$component" || {
+        >2& echo "ERROR: Tests for component '$component' were enabled, but they do not exist!"
+        exit 1
+      }
+    done
   '';
 
   passthru = {