diff --git a/extras/soap-tools/namecheck.py b/extras/soap-tools/namecheck.py
index 470a0b159a30f60f2e31612dee9e7d958ac93166..660ed797176f6610696c09feea6b357ebb5ad391 100755
--- a/extras/soap-tools/namecheck.py
+++ b/extras/soap-tools/namecheck.py
@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@ if r.messages:
     for m in r.messages.SoapMessage:
         print 'Error %s: %s\n' % (m.errorcode, m.message)
 
-print 'Chromosomal description: %s' % r.chromDescription
+if 'chromDescription' in r:
+    print 'Chromosomal description: %s' % r.chromDescription
 print 'Genomic description: %s' % r.genomicDescription
 
 if r.transcriptDescriptions: