diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 9f45faa490..62b8df1a13 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -3408,14 +3408,9 @@ qemuBuildNicDevStr(virDomainDefPtr def,
     if (usingVirtio && net->driver.virtio.tx_queue_size)
         virBufferAsprintf(&buf, ",tx_queue_size=%u", net->driver.virtio.tx_queue_size);
 
-    if (usingVirtio && net->mtu) {
-        if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_NET_HOST_MTU)) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("setting MTU is not supported with this QEMU binary"));
-            return NULL;
-        }
+    if (usingVirtio && net->mtu)
         virBufferAsprintf(&buf, ",host_mtu=%u", net->mtu);
-    }
+
     if (usingVirtio && net->teaming.type == VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TEAMING_TYPE_PERSISTENT)
        virBufferAddLit(&buf, ",failover=on");
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
index 6b2e48dbc3..01fc318741 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
@@ -1277,6 +1277,14 @@ qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefNetwork(const virDomainNetDef *net,
             return -1;
         }
 
+        if (net->mtu &&
+            !virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_NET_HOST_MTU)) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("setting MTU is not supported with this "
+                             "QEMU binary"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+
         if (net->driver.virtio.rx_queue_size & (net->driver.virtio.rx_queue_size - 1)) {
             virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
                            _("rx_queue_size has to be a power of two"));
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
index e85f2188db..a9037101de 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
@@ -499,7 +499,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("watchdog", NONE);
     DO_TEST("net-bandwidth", QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_VGA, QEMU_CAPS_VNC);
     DO_TEST("net-bandwidth2", QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_VGA, QEMU_CAPS_VNC);
-    DO_TEST("net-mtu", NONE);
+    DO_TEST("net-mtu", QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_NET_HOST_MTU);
     DO_TEST("net-coalesce", NONE);
     DO_TEST("net-many-models", NONE);