diff --git a/cmake/modules/SearchInstalledSoftware.cmake b/cmake/modules/SearchInstalledSoftware.cmake
index 018e49f3eeb5e6c99b786e22ac57d8969d0621d2..8a40e1266c90fd2625b480d238dc47d36b79f6ee 100644
--- a/cmake/modules/SearchInstalledSoftware.cmake
+++ b/cmake/modules/SearchInstalledSoftware.cmake
@@ -1384,8 +1384,7 @@ endif()
 
 #---TMVA and its dependencies------------------------------------------------------------
 if (tmva AND NOT mlp)
-  message(STATUS "TMVA is enabled while MLP is not: disabling TMVA")
-  set(tmva OFF CACHE BOOL "Disabled because mlp was not activated" FORCE)
+  message(FATAL_ERROR "The 'tmva' option requires 'mlp', please enable mlp with -Dmlp=ON")
 endif()
 
 if(tmva)