diff --git a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/BeanDescriptor.java b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/BeanDescriptor.java
index e94fa62c7..d5c79d9e2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/BeanDescriptor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/BeanDescriptor.java
@@ -1654,7 +1654,7 @@ public class BeanDescriptor<T> implements MetaBeanInfo, BeanType<T> {
       return assocProp.getTargetDescriptor().getBeanDescriptor(splitBegin[1]);
 
     } else {
-      throw new RuntimeException("Error getting BeanDescriptor for path " + path + " from " + getFullName());
+      throw new PersistenceException("Invalid path " + path + " from " + getFullName());
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/query/SqlTreeAlias.java b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/query/SqlTreeAlias.java
index 483c6ca66..1fe2b1a7f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/query/SqlTreeAlias.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/query/SqlTreeAlias.java
@@ -1,18 +1,17 @@
 package com.avaje.ebeaninternal.server.query;
 
+import com.avaje.ebeaninternal.server.deploy.BeanDescriptor;
+import com.avaje.ebeaninternal.server.el.ElPropertyDeploy;
+
+import javax.persistence.PersistenceException;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.TreeSet;
 
-import com.avaje.ebeaninternal.server.deploy.BeanDescriptor;
-import com.avaje.ebeaninternal.server.el.ElPropertyDeploy;
-
 /**
  * Special Map of the logical property joins to table alias.
- *
- * @author rbygrave
  */
 public class SqlTreeAlias {
 
@@ -61,7 +60,10 @@ public class SqlTreeAlias {
     if (propJoins != null) {
       for (String propJoin : propJoins) {
         ElPropertyDeploy elProp = desc.getElPropertyDeploy(propJoin);
-        if (elProp != null && elProp.getBeanProperty().isEmbedded()) {
+        if (elProp == null) {
+          throw new PersistenceException("Invalid path " + propJoin + " from " + desc.getFullName());
+
+        } else if (elProp.getBeanProperty().isEmbedded()) {
           addEmbeddedPropertyJoin(propJoin);
 
         } else {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/querydefn/OrmQueryDetail.java b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/querydefn/OrmQueryDetail.java
index 9bb6cb081..9f0eb77ef 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/querydefn/OrmQueryDetail.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/querydefn/OrmQueryDetail.java
@@ -353,7 +353,10 @@ public class OrmQueryDetail implements Serializable {
 
     for (String fetchPath : fetchPaths.keySet()) {
       ElPropertyDeploy elProp = beanDescriptor.getElPropertyDeploy(fetchPath);
-      if (elProp != null && elProp.containsManySince(manyFetchProperty)) {
+      if (elProp == null) {
+        throw new PersistenceException("Invalid fetch path " + fetchPath + " from " + beanDescriptor.getFullName());
+      }
+      if (elProp.containsManySince(manyFetchProperty)) {
 
         // this is a join to a *ToMany
         OrmQueryProperties chunk = fetchPaths.get(fetchPath);
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/query/TestInvalidFetchPath.java b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/query/TestInvalidFetchPath.java
index 16ca0314c..2299eeae0 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/query/TestInvalidFetchPath.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/query/TestInvalidFetchPath.java
@@ -5,15 +5,31 @@ import com.avaje.ebean.Ebean;
 import com.avaje.tests.model.basic.Customer;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
+import javax.persistence.PersistenceException;
+
 public class TestInvalidFetchPath extends BaseTestCase {
 
-  @Test
-  public void testWithPathAndProperties() {
+  @Test(expected = PersistenceException.class)
+  public void invalidFetchPathAndProperties_expect_error() {
 
     Ebean.find(Customer.class)
-            .fetch("notHaveProps", "notHaveProps")
+            .fetch("notValidPath", "notHaveProps")
             .findList();
-
   }
 
+  @Test(expected = PersistenceException.class)
+  public void invalidFetchPath_expect_error() {
+
+    Ebean.find(Customer.class)
+        .fetch("notValidPath")
+        .findList();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void fetchWithInvalidPropertyName_expect_allowed() {
+
+    Ebean.find(Customer.class)
+        .fetch("billingAddress", "invalidPropertyName")
+        .findList();
+  }
 }