diff --git a/__tests__/ResourceValidator.test.js b/__tests__/ResourceValidator.test.js
index 877ba08d7..fd9de27e7 100644
--- a/__tests__/ResourceValidator.test.js
+++ b/__tests__/ResourceValidator.test.js
@@ -123,4 +123,30 @@ describe('validate()', () => {
 
     expect(results[1]).toEqual([{ message: 'Required', path: ['Instance', 'Barcode', 'Barcode', 'Barcode'], reduxPath: ['resource', 'resourceTemplate:Monograph:Instance', 'http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe/itemPortion', 'abcdCode', 'resourceTemplate:bf2:Identifiers:Barcode', 'http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#value'] }])
   })
+
+  it('when a resourceTemplate is not found', () => {
+    const resource = {
+      'rt:fooched': {},
+    }
+    const rt = {
+      'rt:fooched': {
+        resourceLabel: 'borked',
+        propertyTemplates: [
+          {
+            propertyURI: 'http://examples.org/bogusOntologies/lookup1',
+            propertyLabel: 'lookup type with valueTemplateRefs',
+            type: 'lookup',
+            valueConstraint: {
+              valueTemplateRefs: [
+                'resourceTemplate:bf2:Note',
+              ],
+            },
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    }
+    const results = new Validator({ resource, entities: { rt } }).validate()
+
+    expect(results[0].resource['rt:fooched'].errors[0]).toMatch('unable to retrieve rt:fooched from local store')
+  })
 })
diff --git a/__tests__/__fixtures__/lookupWithValueTemplateRefs.json b/__tests__/__fixtures__/lookupWithValueTemplateRefs.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a9b26f129
--- /dev/null
+++ b/__tests__/__fixtures__/lookupWithValueTemplateRefs.json
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+{
+  "id": "Sinopia:RT:Fixture:LookupWithValueTemplateRefs",
+  "resourceURI": "http://examples.org/bogusOntologies/Resource",
+  "remark": "This is a sample Resource Template, content is meaningless",
+  "resourceLabel": "test lookup type misconfigured with valueTemplateRefs",
+  "author": "surrogate for Nancy Lorimer",
+  "schema": "https://ld4p.github.io/sinopia/schemas/0.0.9/resource-template.json",
+  "propertyTemplates": [
+    {
+      "mandatory": "false",
+      "repeatable": "true",
+      "type": "lookup",
+      "valueConstraint": {
+        "defaults": [],
+        "useValuesFrom": [],
+        "valueDataType": {},
+        "valueTemplateRefs": [
+          "resourceTemplate:bf2:Note"
+        ]
+      },
+      "propertyLabel": "lookup type with valueTemplateRefs",
+      "propertyURI": "http://examples.org/bogusOntologies/lookup1"
+    },
+    {
+      "mandatory": "false",
+      "repeatable": "true",
+      "type": "resource",
+      "valueConstraint": {
+        "defaults": [],
+        "useValuesFrom": [],
+        "valueDataType": {},
+        "valueTemplateRefs": [
+          "resourceTemplate:bf2:Title:Note"
+        ]
+      },
+      "propertyLabel": "resource type with valueTemplateRefs",
+      "propertyURI": "http://examples.org/bogusOntologies/lookup2"
+    }
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/__tests__/fixtureLoaderHelper.js b/__tests__/fixtureLoaderHelper.js
index 2beba9253..afd7fff5e 100644
--- a/__tests__/fixtureLoaderHelper.js
+++ b/__tests__/fixtureLoaderHelper.js
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ const rtFileNames = [
   'literalRepeatDefaultLiteralNonEnglish.json',
   'literalRepeatDefaultLiteralOnly.json',
   'literalRepeatNoDefault.json',
+  'lookupWithValueTemplateRefs.json',
   'propertyURIRepeated.json',
   'rdaItemMonograph.json',
 ]
diff --git a/__tests__/integration/propertyTemplateMisconfigured.test.js b/__tests__/integration/propertyTemplateMisconfigured.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ddad4b846
--- /dev/null
+++ b/__tests__/integration/propertyTemplateMisconfigured.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+// Copyright 2019 Stanford University see LICENSE for license
+
+import pupExpect from 'expect-puppeteer'
+import { testUserLogin } from './loginHelper'
+
+describe('Errors with Misconfigured Property Templates', () => {
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    await testUserLogin()
+  })
+
+  beforeEach(async () => {
+    await page.goto('http://127.0.0.1:8888/templates')
+    await page.waitForSelector('.react-bootstrap-table')
+  })
+
+  it('lookup type misconfigured with valueTemplateRefs', async () => {
+    // expect.assertions(3)
+    await pupExpect(page).toClick('a[href="/editor"]', { text: 'test lookup type misconfigured with valueTemplateRefs' })
+    await pupExpect(page).toClick('button.btn-add[data-id="lookup1"]')
+    await pupExpect(page).toMatch('This propertyTemplate should not be of type lookup.')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/ResourceValidator.js b/src/ResourceValidator.js
index 5aed2fc13..5032eceb4 100644
--- a/src/ResourceValidator.js
+++ b/src/ResourceValidator.js
@@ -35,16 +35,22 @@ export default class Validator {
   validateResource(reduxPath, labelPath) {
     const resourceTemplateId = reduxPath.slice(-1)[0]
     const resourceTemplate = getResourceTemplate({ selectorReducer: this.selectorReducer }, resourceTemplateId)
-    resourceTemplate.propertyTemplates.forEach((propertyTemplate) => {
-      const newReduxPath = [...reduxPath, propertyTemplate.propertyURI]
-      const newLabelPath = [...labelPath, resourceTemplate.resourceLabel, propertyTemplate.propertyLabel]
-      if (propertyTemplate.mandatory === 'true') {
-        this.validateMandatoryProperty(newReduxPath, newLabelPath)
-      }
-      if (!_.isEmpty(propertyTemplate.valueConstraint?.valueTemplateRefs)) {
-        this.validateNestedResourceProperty(newReduxPath, newLabelPath, propertyTemplate)
-      }
-    })
+    if (resourceTemplate) {
+      resourceTemplate.propertyTemplates.forEach((propertyTemplate) => {
+        const newReduxPath = [...reduxPath, propertyTemplate.propertyURI]
+        const newLabelPath = [...labelPath, resourceTemplate.resourceLabel, propertyTemplate.propertyLabel]
+        if (propertyTemplate.mandatory === 'true') {
+          this.validateMandatoryProperty(newReduxPath, newLabelPath)
+        }
+        if (!_.isEmpty(propertyTemplate.valueConstraint?.valueTemplateRefs)) {
+          this.validateNestedResourceProperty(newReduxPath, newLabelPath, propertyTemplate)
+        }
+      })
+    } else {
+      // not sure this error is ever surfaced anywhere, but we do need to trap for undefined resourceTemplate
+      //  possibly will be surfaced when issue #1148 is addressed
+      this.addError(reduxPath, labelPath, `unable to retrieve ${resourceTemplateId} from local store`)
+    }
   }
 
   validateMandatoryProperty(reduxPath, labelPath) {
diff --git a/src/components/editor/property/PropertyComponent.jsx b/src/components/editor/property/PropertyComponent.jsx
index 707890a54..efb94eb7c 100644
--- a/src/components/editor/property/PropertyComponent.jsx
+++ b/src/components/editor/property/PropertyComponent.jsx
@@ -10,6 +10,19 @@ import { getTagNameForPropertyTemplate } from 'utilities/propertyTemplates'
 
 const PropertyComponent = (props) => {
   const tag = getTagNameForPropertyTemplate(props.propertyTemplate)
+  if (!tag) {
+    return (
+      <div className="row">
+        <div className="col-md-12" style={{ marginTop: '10px' }}>
+          <div className="alert alert-danger alert-dismissible">
+            <button className="close" data-dismiss="alert" aria-label="close">&times;</button>
+            This propertyTemplate should not be of type {props.propertyTemplate.type}.
+          </div>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    )
+  }
+
   const TagName = React.lazy(() => import(`./${tag}`))
   return (
     <React.Suspense fallback={<div>Loading...</div>}>
diff --git a/src/utilities/propertyTemplates.js b/src/utilities/propertyTemplates.js
index 74ac6a379..22ef3ea55 100644
--- a/src/utilities/propertyTemplates.js
+++ b/src/utilities/propertyTemplates.js
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ const textFieldType = (config, propertyTemplate) => {
     case 'resource':
       return 'InputURI'
     default:
-      console.error(`Unknown propertyTemplate type (component=${config}, type=${propertyTemplate.type})`)
+      // error case handled by caller
       return null
   }
 }