diff --git a/fail2ban/client/configreader.py b/fail2ban/client/configreader.py
index 71dce228..630ef32f 100644
--- a/fail2ban/client/configreader.py
+++ b/fail2ban/client/configreader.py
@@ -230,6 +230,7 @@ class ConfigReaderUnshared(SafeConfigParserWithIncludes):
 			missed = [ cf for cf in config_files if cf not in config_files_read ]
 			if missed:
 				logSys.error("Could not read config files: %s", ', '.join(missed))
+				return False
 			if config_files_read:
 				return True
 			logSys.error("Found no accessible config files for %r under %s",
diff --git a/fail2ban/client/configurator.py b/fail2ban/client/configurator.py
index fe735251..4e73e378 100644
--- a/fail2ban/client/configurator.py
+++ b/fail2ban/client/configurator.py
@@ -63,11 +63,13 @@ class Configurator:
 		return fail2ban_basedir
 	
 	def readEarly(self):
-		self.__fail2ban.read()
+		if not self.__fail2ban.read():
+			raise LookupError("Read fail2ban configuration failed.")
 	
 	def readAll(self):
 		self.readEarly()
-		self.__jails.read()
+		if not self.__jails.read():
+			raise LookupError("Read jails configuration failed.")
 	
 	def getEarlyOptions(self):
 		return self.__fail2ban.getEarlyOptions()
diff --git a/fail2ban/client/fail2banreader.py b/fail2ban/client/fail2banreader.py
index 1f135cf8..19026d90 100644
--- a/fail2ban/client/fail2banreader.py
+++ b/fail2ban/client/fail2banreader.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class Fail2banReader(ConfigReader):
 		ConfigReader.__init__(self, **kwargs)
 	
 	def read(self):
-		ConfigReader.read(self, "fail2ban")
+		return ConfigReader.read(self, "fail2ban")
 	
 	def getEarlyOptions(self):
 		opts = [
diff --git a/fail2ban/tests/fail2banclienttestcase.py b/fail2ban/tests/fail2banclienttestcase.py
index 28b908cd..b3509739 100644
--- a/fail2ban/tests/fail2banclienttestcase.py
+++ b/fail2ban/tests/fail2banclienttestcase.py
@@ -826,6 +826,23 @@ class Fail2banServerTest(Fail2banClientServerBase):
 			"Errors in jail 'broken-jail'.",
 			"ERROR: test configuration failed", all=True)
 
+		# disable jail in .local (shall be again OK):
+		self.pruneLog("[test-phase 1]")
+		_write_file(pjoin(cfg, "jail.local"), "a", "",
+			"[broken-jail]", "enabled = false")
+		self.execCmd(SUCCESS, startparams, "--test")
+		self.assertLogged("OK: configuration test is successful")
+
+		# generate decoding error: ('utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xfd):
+		self.pruneLog("[test-phase 1a]")
+		with open(pjoin(cfg, "jail.local"), "ab") as f:
+			f.write(b"\n# invalid char \xfd")
+		self.execCmd(FAILED, startparams, "-t")
+		self.assertLogged("Could not read config files",
+			"Read jails configuration failed.",
+			"ERROR: test configuration failed", all=True)
+
+
 	@with_tmpdir
 	def testKillAfterStart(self, tmp):
 		try: