diff --git a/src/caosdb/common/models.py b/src/caosdb/common/models.py
index 467e0e71072912bfbb6b7e07da3980e17cec4d60..25b2ef51aa028b32bb857aff8a0d5449f1cc3c61 100644
--- a/src/caosdb/common/models.py
+++ b/src/caosdb/common/models.py
@@ -998,15 +998,17 @@ class Entity(object):
             if len(c) == 1:
                 e = c[0]
             elif len(c) == 0:
-                raise EntityDoesNotExistError(
+                ee = EntityDoesNotExistError(
                     "The entity to be updated does not exist on the server.",
                     entity=self
                 )
+                raise TransactionError(ee)
             else:
-                raise AmbiguousEntityError(
+                ae = AmbiguousEntityError(
                     "Could not determine the desired Entity which is to be updated by its name.",
                     entity=self
                 )
+                raise TransactionError(ae)
         else:
             e = Container().retrieve(query=self.id, sync=False)[0]
         e.acl = ACL(self.acl.to_xml())