diff --git a/src/libstore/build.cc b/src/libstore/build.cc
index 0febb8dfb..760663ac9 100644
--- a/src/libstore/build.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/build.cc
@@ -1680,6 +1680,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::buildDone()
         }
 
         if (buildMode == bmCheck) {
+            deleteTmpDir(true);
             done(BuildResult::Built);
             return;
         }
diff --git a/tests/check.nix b/tests/check.nix
index 56c82e565..bca04fdaf 100644
--- a/tests/check.nix
+++ b/tests/check.nix
@@ -1,12 +1,45 @@
+{checkBuildId ? 0}:
+
 with import ./config.nix;
 
 {
   nondeterministic = mkDerivation {
+    inherit checkBuildId;
     name = "nondeterministic";
     buildCommand =
       ''
         mkdir $out
         date +%s.%N > $out/date
+        echo "CHECK_TMPDIR=$TMPDIR"
+        echo "checkBuildId=$checkBuildId"
+        echo "$checkBuildId" > $TMPDIR/checkBuildId
+      '';
+  };
+
+  deterministic = mkDerivation {
+    inherit checkBuildId;
+    name = "deterministic";
+    buildCommand =
+      ''
+        mkdir $out
+        echo date > $out/date
+        echo "CHECK_TMPDIR=$TMPDIR"
+        echo "checkBuildId=$checkBuildId"
+        echo "$checkBuildId" > $TMPDIR/checkBuildId
+      '';
+  };
+
+  failed = mkDerivation {
+    inherit checkBuildId;
+    name = "failed";
+    buildCommand =
+      ''
+        mkdir $out
+        echo date > $out/date
+        echo "CHECK_TMPDIR=$TMPDIR"
+        echo "checkBuildId=$checkBuildId"
+        echo "$checkBuildId" > $TMPDIR/checkBuildId
+        false
       '';
   };
 
diff --git a/tests/check.sh b/tests/check.sh
index bc23a6634..b423dc0b5 100644
--- a/tests/check.sh
+++ b/tests/check.sh
@@ -1,14 +1,62 @@
 source common.sh
 
+checkBuildTempDirRemoved ()
+{
+    buildDir=$(sed -n 's/CHECK_TMPDIR=//p' $1 | head -1)
+    checkBuildIdFile=${buildDir}/checkBuildId
+    [[ ! -f $checkBuildIdFile ]] || ! grep $checkBuildId $checkBuildIdFile
+}
+
+# written to build temp directories to verify created by this instance
+checkBuildId=$(date +%s%N)
+
 clearStore
 
 nix-build dependencies.nix --no-out-link
 nix-build dependencies.nix --no-out-link --check
 
-nix-build check.nix -A nondeterministic --no-out-link
-nix-build check.nix -A nondeterministic --no-out-link --check 2> $TEST_ROOT/log || status=$?
+# check for dangling temporary build directories
+# only retain if build fails and --keep-failed is specified, or...
+# ...build is non-deterministic and --check and --keep-failed are both specified
+nix-build check.nix -A failed --argstr checkBuildId $checkBuildId \
+    --no-out-link 2> $TEST_ROOT/log || status=$?
+[ "$status" = "100" ]
+checkBuildTempDirRemoved $TEST_ROOT/log
+
+nix-build check.nix -A failed --argstr checkBuildId $checkBuildId \
+    --no-out-link --keep-failed 2> $TEST_ROOT/log || status=$?
+[ "$status" = "100" ]
+if checkBuildTempDirRemoved $TEST_ROOT/log; then false; fi
+
+nix-build check.nix -A deterministic --argstr checkBuildId $checkBuildId \
+    --no-out-link 2> $TEST_ROOT/log
+checkBuildTempDirRemoved $TEST_ROOT/log
+
+nix-build check.nix -A deterministic --argstr checkBuildId $checkBuildId \
+    --no-out-link --check --keep-failed 2> $TEST_ROOT/log
+if grep -q 'may not be deterministic' $TEST_ROOT/log; then false; fi
+checkBuildTempDirRemoved $TEST_ROOT/log
+
+nix-build check.nix -A nondeterministic --argstr checkBuildId $checkBuildId \
+    --no-out-link 2> $TEST_ROOT/log
+checkBuildTempDirRemoved $TEST_ROOT/log
+
+nix-build check.nix -A nondeterministic --argstr checkBuildId $checkBuildId \
+    --no-out-link --check 2> $TEST_ROOT/log || status=$?
 grep 'may not be deterministic' $TEST_ROOT/log
 [ "$status" = "104" ]
+checkBuildTempDirRemoved $TEST_ROOT/log
+
+nix-build check.nix -A nondeterministic --argstr checkBuildId $checkBuildId \
+    --no-out-link --check --keep-failed 2> $TEST_ROOT/log || status=$?
+
+# The above nix-build fails with status=1 on darwin (not sure why)
+# ...but the primary purpose of the test case is to verify the temp directory is retained
+if [ "$(uname -s)" != "Darwin" ]; then
+grep 'may not be deterministic' $TEST_ROOT/log
+[ "$status" = "104" ]
+fi
+if checkBuildTempDirRemoved $TEST_ROOT/log; then false; fi
 
 clearStore