diff --git a/src/basic/path-util.c b/src/basic/path-util.c
index 221517303ec..084e0a9f29d 100644
--- a/src/basic/path-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/path-util.c
@@ -1132,13 +1132,6 @@ int path_simplify_and_warn(
 
         path_simplify(path, true);
 
-        if (!path_is_normalized(path)) {
-                log_syntax(unit, LOG_ERR, filename, line, 0,
-                           "%s= path is not normalized%s: %s",
-                           lvalue, fatal ? "" : ", ignoring", path);
-                return -EINVAL;
-        }
-
         if (!path_is_valid(path)) {
                 log_syntax(unit, LOG_ERR, filename, line, 0,
                            "%s= path has invalid length (%zu bytes)%s.",
@@ -1146,5 +1139,12 @@ int path_simplify_and_warn(
                 return -EINVAL;
         }
 
+        if (!path_is_normalized(path)) {
+                log_syntax(unit, LOG_ERR, filename, line, 0,
+                           "%s= path is not normalized%s: %s",
+                           lvalue, fatal ? "" : ", ignoring", path);
+                return -EINVAL;
+        }
+
         return 0;
 }