diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index b82f7bf2a..82d302ba7 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
   bubbled incorrectly and caused spurious deployment errors.
 - Add new `rsync-ext` repository type which uses an external rsync
   binary for repository synchronisation.
+- Fix bug where the SyncDirectory component errors out because the target directory
+  does not exist yet.
 
 
 ## 2.4rc1 (2023-09-12)
diff --git a/src/batou/lib/file.py b/src/batou/lib/file.py
index b52ba5d9e..02a813751 100644
--- a/src/batou/lib/file.py
+++ b/src/batou/lib/file.py
@@ -204,6 +204,9 @@ def exclude_arg(self):
         return " ".join("--exclude '{}'".format(x) for x in self.exclude) + " "
 
     def verify(self):
+        if not os.path.isdir(self.path):
+            raise batou.UpdateNeeded()
+
         stdout, stderr = self.cmd(
             "rsync {} {}{}/ {}".format(
                 self.verify_opts, self.exclude_arg, self.source, self.path