diff --git a/man/systemd.exec.xml b/man/systemd.exec.xml
index f01599f656..730a7d0d06 100644
--- a/man/systemd.exec.xml
+++ b/man/systemd.exec.xml
@@ -175,7 +175,9 @@
         source path, destination path and option string, where the latter two are optional. If only a source path is
         specified the source and destination is taken to be the same. The option string may be either
         <literal>rbind</literal> or <literal>norbind</literal> for configuring a recursive or non-recursive bind
-        mount. If the destination path is omitted, the option string must be omitted too.</para>
+        mount. If the destination path is omitted, the option string must be omitted too.
+        Each bind mount definition may be prefixed with <literal>-</literal>, in which case it will be ignored
+        when its source path does not exist.</para>
 
         <para><varname>BindPaths=</varname> creates regular writable bind mounts (unless the source file system mount
         is already marked read-only), while <varname>BindReadOnlyPaths=</varname> creates read-only bind mounts. These
diff --git a/src/core/execute.c b/src/core/execute.c
index 06cbb57af4..18ad92c3d9 100644
--- a/src/core/execute.c
+++ b/src/core/execute.c
@@ -4173,13 +4173,13 @@ void exec_context_dump(const ExecContext *c, FILE* f, const char *prefix) {
         }
 
         if (c->n_bind_mounts > 0)
-                for (i = 0; i < c->n_bind_mounts; i++) {
-                        fprintf(f, "%s%s: %s:%s:%s\n", prefix,
+                for (i = 0; i < c->n_bind_mounts; i++)
+                        fprintf(f, "%s%s: %s%s:%s:%s\n", prefix,
                                 c->bind_mounts[i].read_only ? "BindReadOnlyPaths" : "BindPaths",
+                                c->bind_mounts[i].ignore_enoent ? "-": "",
                                 c->bind_mounts[i].source,
                                 c->bind_mounts[i].destination,
                                 c->bind_mounts[i].recursive ? "rbind" : "norbind");
-                }
 
         if (c->utmp_id)
                 fprintf(f,
diff --git a/src/core/namespace.c b/src/core/namespace.c
index a5782ece7a..a42220ebe0 100644
--- a/src/core/namespace.c
+++ b/src/core/namespace.c
@@ -262,6 +262,7 @@ static int append_bind_mounts(MountEntry **p, const BindMount *binds, unsigned n
                         .mode = b->recursive ? BIND_MOUNT_RECURSIVE : BIND_MOUNT,
                         .read_only = b->read_only,
                         .source_const = b->source,
+                        .ignore = b->ignore_enoent,
                 };
         }
 
@@ -728,11 +729,11 @@ static int mount_entry_chase(
                 const char *root_directory,
                 const MountEntry *m,
                 const char *path,
+                bool chase_nonexistent,
                 char **location) {
 
         char *chased;
         int r;
-        unsigned flags = 0;
 
         assert(m);
 
@@ -740,18 +741,7 @@ static int mount_entry_chase(
          * chase the symlinks on our own first. This is called for the destination path, as well as the source path (if
          * that applies). The result is stored in "location". */
 
-        if (IN_SET(m->mode,
-                   BIND_MOUNT,
-                   BIND_MOUNT_RECURSIVE,
-                   PRIVATE_TMP,
-                   PRIVATE_DEV,
-                   BIND_DEV,
-                   EMPTY_DIR,
-                   SYSFS,
-                   PROCFS))
-                flags |= CHASE_NONEXISTENT;
-
-        r = chase_symlinks(path, root_directory, flags, &chased);
+        r = chase_symlinks(path, root_directory, chase_nonexistent ? CHASE_NONEXISTENT : 0, &chased);
         if (r == -ENOENT && m->ignore) {
                 log_debug_errno(r, "Path %s does not exist, ignoring.", path);
                 return 0;
@@ -777,7 +767,7 @@ static int apply_mount(
 
         assert(m);
 
-        r = mount_entry_chase(root_directory, m, mount_entry_path(m), &m->path_malloc);
+        r = mount_entry_chase(root_directory, m, mount_entry_path(m), !IN_SET(m->mode, INACCESSIBLE, READONLY, READWRITE), &m->path_malloc);
         if (r <= 0)
                 return r;
 
@@ -822,7 +812,7 @@ static int apply_mount(
         case BIND_MOUNT_RECURSIVE:
                 /* Also chase the source mount */
 
-                r = mount_entry_chase(root_directory, m, mount_entry_source(m), &m->source_malloc);
+                r = mount_entry_chase(root_directory, m, mount_entry_source(m), false, &m->source_malloc);
                 if (r <= 0)
                         return r;