diff -up shadow-4.6/src/usermod.c.move-home shadow-4.6/src/usermod.c
--- shadow-4.6/src/usermod.c.move-home	2018-05-28 14:59:05.594076665 +0200
+++ shadow-4.6/src/usermod.c	2018-05-28 15:00:28.479837392 +0200
@@ -1845,6 +1845,11 @@ static void move_home (void)
 			         Prog, prefix_user_home, prefix_user_newhome);
 			fail_exit (E_HOMEDIR);
 		}
+	} else {
+		fprintf (stderr,
+		         _("%s: The previous home directory (%s) does "
+		           "not exist or is inaccessible. Move cannot be completed.\n"),
+		         Prog, prefix_user_home);
 	}
 }
 
