diff --git a/src/plasmaquick/appletquickitem.cpp b/src/plasmaquick/appletquickitem.cpp
index 0369e360a..7966fcaca 100644
--- a/src/plasmaquick/appletquickitem.cpp
+++ b/src/plasmaquick/appletquickitem.cpp
@@ -213,6 +213,9 @@ QObject *AppletQuickItemPrivate::createCompactRepresentationExpanderItem()
 
     compactRepresentationExpanderItem = qmlObject->createObjectFromComponent(compactRepresentationExpander.data(), QtQml::qmlContext(qmlObject->rootObject()));
 
+    if (!compactRepresentationExpanderItem) {
+        return 0;
+    }
 
     compactRepresentationExpanderItem.data()->setProperty("compactRepresentation", QVariant::fromValue(createCompactRepresentationItem()));