diff --git a/hw/virtio/virtio-pmem.c b/hw/virtio/virtio-pmem.c
index c3512c2dae..cc24812d2e 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/virtio-pmem.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/virtio-pmem.c
@@ -147,10 +147,7 @@ static void virtio_pmem_fill_device_info(const VirtIOPMEM *pmem,
 static MemoryRegion *virtio_pmem_get_memory_region(VirtIOPMEM *pmem,
                                                    Error **errp)
 {
-    if (!pmem->memdev) {
-        error_setg(errp, "'%s' property must be set", VIRTIO_PMEM_MEMDEV_PROP);
-        return NULL;
-    }
+    assert(pmem->memdev);
 
     return &pmem->memdev->mr;
 }