diff --git a/internal/app/manager.go b/internal/app/manager.go
index 865c370..d6af8bf 100644
--- a/internal/app/manager.go
+++ b/internal/app/manager.go
@@ -71,6 +71,14 @@ func (app *App) stateManager() appState {
 
 	var switchover Switchover
 	if err := app.dcs.Get(pathCurrentSwitch, &switchover); err == nil {
+		if !switchover.InitiatedAt.IsZero() && time.Since(switchover.InitiatedAt) > app.config.Valkey.SwitchoverTimeout {
+			app.logger.Error(fmt.Sprintf("Switchover: %s => %s timed out after %s", switchover.From, switchover.To, time.Since(switchover.InitiatedAt)))
+			err = app.failSwitchover(&switchover, fmt.Errorf("switchover timed out after %s", time.Since(switchover.InitiatedAt)))
+			if err != nil {
+				app.logger.Error("Failed to report switchover timeout", slog.Any("error", err))
+			}
+			return stateManager
+		}
 		err = app.approveSwitchover(&switchover, activeNodes, shardState)
 		if err != nil {
 			app.logger.Error("Unable to perform switchover", slog.Any("error", err))
diff --git a/internal/app/switchover.go b/internal/app/switchover.go
index 49f479e..a0505f3 100644
--- a/internal/app/switchover.go
+++ b/internal/app/switchover.go
@@ -167,8 +167,7 @@ func (app *App) performSwitchover(shardState map[string]*HostState, activeNodes
 	}, activeNodes)
 
 	if err, ok := errsRO[oldMaster]; ok && err != nil && shardState[oldMaster].PingOk {
-		err = fmt.Errorf("failed to set old master %s read-only: %s", oldMaster, err.Error())
-		app.logger.Error("Switchover", slog.Any("error", err))
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to set old master %s read-only: %s", oldMaster, err.Error())
 	}
 
 	poisonPill, err := app.getPoisonPill()
diff --git a/internal/config/config.go b/internal/config/config.go
index a13fd99..b63233c 100644
--- a/internal/config/config.go
+++ b/internal/config/config.go
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ type ValkeyConfig struct {
 	StaleReplicaLagOpen                 time.Duration `yaml:"stale_replica_lag_open"`
 	DestructiveReplicationRepairTimeout time.Duration `yaml:"destructive_replication_repair_timeout"`
 	FailoverCooldown                    time.Duration `yaml:"failover_cooldown"`
+	SwitchoverTimeout                   time.Duration `yaml:"switchover_timeout"`
 	MaxParallelSyncs                    int           `yaml:"max_parallel_syncs"`
 	ClusterBusPort                      int           `yaml:"cluster_bus_port"`
 	ReservedConnections                 int           `yaml:"reserved_connections"`
@@ -105,6 +106,7 @@ func DefaultValkeyConfig() ValkeyConfig {
 		StaleReplicaLagOpen:                 10 * time.Second,
 		BusyTimeout:                         5 * time.Second,
 		DestructiveReplicationRepairTimeout: 30 * time.Minute,
+		SwitchoverTimeout:                   10 * time.Minute,
 		MaxParallelSyncs:                    1,
 		ReservedConnections:                 10,
 		AllowDataLoss:                       false,