diff --git a/tools/buildman/boards.py b/tools/buildman/boards.py
index bf396574e2..422f3476b0 100644
--- a/tools/buildman/boards.py
+++ b/tools/buildman/boards.py
@@ -772,8 +772,12 @@ class Boards:
 
         for i, params in enumerate(params_list):
             target = params['target']
-            params['status'] = database.get_status(target)
-            params['maintainers'] = database.get_maintainers(target)
+            maintainers = database.get_maintainers(target)
+            params['maintainers'] = maintainers
+            if maintainers:
+                params['status'] = database.get_status(target)
+            else:
+                params['status'] = '-'
             params_list[i] = params
         return database.warnings
 
diff --git a/tools/buildman/func_test.py b/tools/buildman/func_test.py
index 164dd7c620..149551e6f3 100644
--- a/tools/buildman/func_test.py
+++ b/tools/buildman/func_test.py
@@ -920,7 +920,6 @@ Active  aarch64     armv8 - armltd total_compute board2
         self.assertEquals(2, len(params_list))
         self.assertEquals(
             ['WARNING: orphaned defconfig in boards/board0/MAINTAINERS ending at line 4',
-             "WARNING: no status info for 'board0'",
              "WARNING: no maintainers for 'board0'"], warnings)
 
         # Remove the maintainer line (M:) from a file (this should be fine)