diff --git a/R/build.R b/R/build.R
index 630ed86..41f4d9a 100644
--- a/R/build.R
+++ b/R/build.R
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ build_package <- function(path, tmpdir, build_args, libpath, quiet) {
   dir.create(tmpdir, recursive = TRUE, showWarnings = FALSE)
   tmpdir <- normalizePath(tmpdir)
 
-  if (file.info(path)$isdir) {
+  if (safecheck_isdir(path)) {
     if (!quiet) cat_head("R CMD build")
 
     desc <- desc(path)
diff --git a/R/env.R b/R/env.R
index 8537750..51e4831 100644
--- a/R/env.R
+++ b/R/env.R
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ load_env <- function(path, targz, package, envir = parent.frame()) {
   if (!should_load) return()
 
   env <- NULL
-  if (file.info(path)$isdir) {
+  if (safecheck_isdir(path)) {
     env_path <- file.path(path, "tools", "check.env")
   } else {
     dir.create(tmp <- tempfile())
diff --git a/R/package.R b/R/package.R
index 3e01892..983cec5 100644
--- a/R/package.R
+++ b/R/package.R
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ rcmdcheck <- function(
 
   error_on <- match.arg(error_on, c("never", "error", "warning", "note"))
 
-  if (file.info(path)$isdir) {
+  if (safecheck_isdir(path)) {
     path <- find_package_root_file(path = path)
   } else {
     path <- normalizePath(path)
diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index 40d19de..76f0453 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -213,3 +213,10 @@ data_literal <- function(...) {
     colClasses = "character"
   )
 }
+
+safecheck_isdir <- function(path){
+  if(!file.exists(path)) stop("path '", path, "' does not exist!")
+  res <- file.info(path, extra_cols = FALSE)
+  if(is.na(res$isdir)) stop("path '", path, "' is not readable!")
+  res$isdir
+}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-errors.R b/tests/testthat/test-errors.R
index 17eb7ae..3a57633 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-errors.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-errors.R
@@ -73,3 +73,7 @@ test_that("error_on argument", {
   tryCatch(rcmdcheck(), error = function(e) e)
   expect_equal(value, "note")
 })
+
+test_that("error correctly when reading invalid files", {
+  expect_error(rcmdcheck("Invalid file name"), "path 'Invalid file name' does not exist!")
+})