diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 1886d2210e..66612fc753 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -74,7 +74,11 @@ Other changes:
    of Object args as strings; previously only API-level usage of the
    equals condition allowed Object args, but Ant 1.8.x+ property
    evaluation may yield values of any type.
-
+   
+ * BuildFileTest.assertPropertyUnset() fails with a slightly more 
+   meaningful error message
+   Bugzilla Report 48834
+   
 Changes from Ant 1.8.0RC1 TO Ant 1.8.0
 ======================================
 
diff --git a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/BuildFileTest.java b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/BuildFileTest.java
index 1587721df7..cca3c4ee19 100644
--- a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/BuildFileTest.java
+++ b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/BuildFileTest.java
@@ -428,8 +428,12 @@ public  void assertPropertySet(String property) {
      *
      * @param property property name
      */
-    public  void assertPropertyUnset(String property) {
-        assertPropertyEquals(property, null);
+    public void assertPropertyUnset(String property) {
+        String result = project.getProperty(property);
+        if (result != null) {
+            fail("Expected property " + property
+                    + " to be unset, but it is set to the value: " + result);
+        }
     }
 
     /**