diff -Nru nar-maven-plugin-nar-maven-plugin-3.0.0/src/main/java/com/github/maven_nar/NarProperties.java nar-maven-plugin-nar-maven-plugin-3.0.0.IOException/src/main/java/com/github/maven_nar/NarProperties.java
--- nar-maven-plugin-nar-maven-plugin-3.0.0/src/main/java/com/github/maven_nar/NarProperties.java	2013-12-06 19:36:29.000000000 +0100
+++ nar-maven-plugin-nar-maven-plugin-3.0.0.IOException/src/main/java/com/github/maven_nar/NarProperties.java	2016-09-06 18:09:11.076335364 +0200
@@ -20,7 +20,12 @@
 	
 	private NarProperties(MavenProject project) throws MojoFailureException {
 		
-		Properties defaults = PropertyUtils.loadProperties( NarUtil.class.getResourceAsStream( AOL_PROPERTIES ) );
+		Properties defaults = null;
+		try {
+                    defaults = PropertyUtils.loadProperties( NarUtil.class.getResourceAsStream( AOL_PROPERTIES ) );
+		} catch ( IOException e ) {
+                    throw new RuntimeException(e);
+		}
         if ( defaults == null )
         {
             throw new MojoFailureException( "NAR: Could not load default properties file: '"+AOL_PROPERTIES+"'." );
@@ -89,7 +94,15 @@
 	 * @param properties the properties from input stream
 	 */
 	public static void inject(MavenProject project, InputStream properties) throws MojoFailureException {
-		final Properties defaults = PropertyUtils.loadProperties( properties );
+ 		Properties defaults = null;
+ 		try {
+                    defaults = PropertyUtils.loadProperties( properties );
+		} catch ( IOException e ) {
+                    throw new RuntimeException(e);
+		}
+		if ( defaults == null ) {
+                    throw new MojoFailureException( "NAR: Could not load default properties file: '"+AOL_PROPERTIES+"'." );
+		}
 		final NarProperties nar = getInstance(project);
 		nar.properties.putAll(defaults);
 	}