diff --git a/net/vhost-user.c b/net/vhost-user.c
index 4a939124d2..b1a0247b59 100644
--- a/net/vhost-user.c
+++ b/net/vhost-user.c
@@ -198,6 +198,19 @@ static bool vhost_user_has_ufo(NetClientState *nc)
     return true;
 }
 
+static bool vhost_user_check_peer_type(NetClientState *nc, ObjectClass *oc,
+                                       Error **errp)
+{
+    const char *driver = object_class_get_name(oc);
+
+    if (!g_str_has_prefix(driver, "virtio-net-")) {
+        error_setg(errp, "vhost-user requires frontend driver virtio-net-*");
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    return true;
+}
+
 static NetClientInfo net_vhost_user_info = {
         .type = NET_CLIENT_DRIVER_VHOST_USER,
         .size = sizeof(NetVhostUserState),
@@ -207,6 +220,7 @@ static NetClientInfo net_vhost_user_info = {
         .has_ufo = vhost_user_has_ufo,
         .set_vnet_be = vhost_user_set_vnet_endianness,
         .set_vnet_le = vhost_user_set_vnet_endianness,
+        .check_peer_type = vhost_user_check_peer_type,
 };
 
 static gboolean net_vhost_user_watch(void *do_not_use, GIOCondition cond,
@@ -397,27 +411,6 @@ static Chardev *net_vhost_claim_chardev(
     return chr;
 }
 
-static int net_vhost_check_net(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
-{
-    const char *name = opaque;
-    const char *driver, *netdev;
-
-    driver = qemu_opt_get(opts, "driver");
-    netdev = qemu_opt_get(opts, "netdev");
-
-    if (!driver || !netdev) {
-        return 0;
-    }
-
-    if (strcmp(netdev, name) == 0 &&
-        !g_str_has_prefix(driver, "virtio-net-")) {
-        error_setg(errp, "vhost-user requires frontend driver virtio-net-*");
-        return -1;
-    }
-
-    return 0;
-}
-
 int net_init_vhost_user(const Netdev *netdev, const char *name,
                         NetClientState *peer, Error **errp)
 {
@@ -433,12 +426,6 @@ int net_init_vhost_user(const Netdev *netdev, const char *name,
         return -1;
     }
 
-    /* verify net frontend */
-    if (qemu_opts_foreach(qemu_find_opts("device"), net_vhost_check_net,
-                          (char *)name, errp)) {
-        return -1;
-    }
-
     queues = vhost_user_opts->has_queues ? vhost_user_opts->queues : 1;
     if (queues < 1 || queues > MAX_QUEUE_NUM) {
         error_setg(errp,