diff --git a/src/server/kiwix-serve.cpp b/src/server/kiwix-serve.cpp
index df813b0..26df21d 100644
--- a/src/server/kiwix-serve.cpp
+++ b/src/server/kiwix-serve.cpp
@@ -86,8 +86,8 @@ string loadCustomTemplate (string customIndexPath) {
   customIndexPath = kiwix::isRelativePath(customIndexPath) ?
                       kiwix::computeAbsolutePath(kiwix::getCurrentDirectory(), customIndexPath) :
                       customIndexPath;
-  if (!kiwix::fileExists(customIndexPath)) {
-    throw runtime_error("No such file exist (or file is not readable)" + customIndexPath);
+  if (!kiwix::fileReadable(customIndexPath)) {
+    throw runtime_error("No such file exist (or file is not readable) " + customIndexPath);
   }
   if (kiwix::getMimeTypeForFile(customIndexPath) != "text/html") {
     throw runtime_error("Invalid File Mime Type " + kiwix::getMimeTypeForFile(customIndexPath));