diff --git a/src/api/tests/test_available.py b/src/api/tests/test_available.py
index a80290985..dc0f5ee54 100644
--- a/src/api/tests/test_available.py
+++ b/src/api/tests/test_available.py
@@ -101,15 +101,17 @@ class AvailableViewTest(MockEppLib):
         self.assertTrue(json.loads(response.content)["available"])
 
     def test_error_handling(self):
-        """Calling with bad strings raises an error."""
+        """Calling with bad strings returns error (error verifying) or unavailable (invalid domain)."""
         bad_string = "blah!;"
         request = self.factory.get(API_BASE_PATH + bad_string)
         request.user = self.user
         response = available(request, domain=bad_string)
         self.assertFalse(json.loads(response.content)["available"])
-        # domain set to raise error returns false for availability
-        error_domain_available = available(request, "errordomain.gov")
-        self.assertRaises(json.loads(error_domain_available.content)["available"])
+        # domain set to raise error returns false for availability and error message
+        error_domain_response = available(request, domain="errordomain.gov")
+        self.assertFalse(json.loads(error_domain_response.content)["available"])
+        self.assertIn("Error finding domain availability", 
+        json.loads(error_domain_response.content)["message"])
 
 
 class AvailableAPITest(MockEppLib):
diff --git a/src/api/views.py b/src/api/views.py
index 56a2b786a..d01acaa3f 100644
--- a/src/api/views.py
+++ b/src/api/views.py
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ DOMAIN_API_MESSAGES = {
     ),
     "invalid": "Enter a domain using only letters, numbers, or hyphens (though we don't recommend using hyphens).",
     "success": "That domain is available!",
-    "error": "Error finding domain availability. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If you continue \
-    to receive this error after a few tries, contact help@get.gov",
+    "error": "Error finding domain availability. Please wait a few minutes and try again.\
+    If you continue to receive this error after a few tries, contact help@get.gov",
 }
 
 
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ def check_domain_available(domain):
             # domain search string doesn't end with .gov, add it on here
             return Domain.available(domain + ".gov")
     except Exception as err:
-        return err
+        raise err
 
 
 @require_http_methods(["GET"])