diff --git a/lib/puppet/parser/functions/loadyaml.rb b/lib/puppet/parser/functions/loadyaml.rb
index 10c400501..ca655f6ea 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/parser/functions/loadyaml.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/parser/functions/loadyaml.rb
@@ -13,7 +13,12 @@ module Puppet::Parser::Functions
       raise Puppet::ParseError, ("loadyaml(): wrong number of arguments (#{args.length}; must be 1)")
     end
 
-    YAML.load_file(args[0])
+    if File.exists?(args[0]) then
+      YAML.load_file(args[0])
+    else
+      warning("Can't load " + args[0] + ". File does not exist!")
+      nil
+    end
 
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/functions/loadyaml_spec.rb b/spec/functions/loadyaml_spec.rb
index cdc3d6f51..4b8d40623 100755
--- a/spec/functions/loadyaml_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/functions/loadyaml_spec.rb
@@ -14,6 +14,12 @@
     expect { scope.function_loadyaml([]) }.to raise_error(Puppet::ParseError)
   end
 
+  it "should return nil when file does not exist" do
+    yaml_file = tmpfilename ('yamlfile')
+    result = scope.function_loadyaml([yaml_file])
+    expect(result).to(eq(nil))
+  end
+
   it "should convert YAML file to a data structure" do
     yaml_file = tmpfilename ('yamlfile')
     File.open(yaml_file, 'w') do |fh|