diff --git a/common/scripts/lint-commits b/common/scripts/lint-commits
index 65f584f5f8..01c4eda170 100755
--- a/common/scripts/lint-commits
+++ b/common/scripts/lint-commits
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ do
 	(NF > 2) && (length > 80) { print C ": long line: " $0; exit 1 }
 	!subject {
 		if (length > 50) { print C ": subject is a bit long" }
-		if (!($0 ~ ":" || $0 ~ "^Take over maintainership " || $0 ~ "^Orphan ")) { print C ": subject does not follow CONTRIBUTING.md guildelines" }
+		if (!($0 ~ ":" || $0 ~ "^Take over maintainership " || $0 ~ "^Orphan ")) { print C ": subject does not follow CONTRIBUTING.md guildelines"; exit 1 }
 		# Below check is too noisy?
 		# if (!($0 ~ "^New package:" || $0 ~ ".*: update to")) {
 		# 	print C ": not new package/update/removal?"