diff --git a/pytest_django/fixtures.py b/pytest_django/fixtures.py
index 0a0b1ec26..b545a0a91 100644
--- a/pytest_django/fixtures.py
+++ b/pytest_django/fixtures.py
@@ -3,11 +3,12 @@
 from __future__ import with_statement
 
 import os
+import sys
+from contextlib import contextmanager
+from io import StringIO
 
 import pytest
 
-from contextlib import contextmanager
-
 from . import live_server_helper
 
 from .django_compat import is_django_unittest
@@ -97,6 +98,8 @@ def django_db_setup(
             **setup_databases_args
         )
 
+        run_checks(request)
+
     def teardown_database():
         with django_db_blocker.unblock():
             teardown_databases(
@@ -108,6 +111,35 @@ def teardown_database():
         request.addfinalizer(teardown_database)
 
 
+def run_checks(request):
+    from django.core.management import call_command
+    from django.core.management.base import SystemCheckError
+
+    config = request.config
+
+    # Only run once per process
+    if getattr(config, '_pytest_django_checks_ran', False):
+        return
+    config._pytest_django_checks_ran = True
+
+    out = StringIO()
+    try:
+        call_command('check', stdout=out, stderr=out)
+    except SystemCheckError as exc:
+        config._pytest_django_checks_exc = exc
+
+        if hasattr(request.config, 'slaveinput'):
+            # Kill the xdist test process horribly
+            # N.B. 'shouldstop' may be obeyed properly in the future as hinted at in
+            # https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest-xdist/commit/e8fa73719662d1be5074a0750329fe0c35583484
+            print(exc.args[0])
+            sys.exit(1)
+        else:
+            # Ensure we get the EXIT_TESTSFAILED exit code
+            request.session.testsfailed += 1
+            request.session.shouldstop = True
+
+
 def _django_db_fixture_helper(transactional, request, django_db_blocker):
     if is_django_unittest(request):
         return
diff --git a/pytest_django/plugin.py b/pytest_django/plugin.py
index 1585c6983..6a99a40ca 100644
--- a/pytest_django/plugin.py
+++ b/pytest_django/plugin.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 from .fixtures import django_username_field  # noqa
 from .fixtures import live_server  # noqa
 from .fixtures import rf  # noqa
+from .fixtures import run_checks  # noqa
 from .fixtures import settings  # noqa
 from .fixtures import transactional_db  # noqa
 from .pytest_compat import getfixturevalue
@@ -329,6 +330,14 @@ def pytest_runtest_setup(item):
         _disable_class_methods(cls)
 
 
+def pytest_terminal_summary(terminalreporter, exitstatus):
+    config = terminalreporter.config
+    check_exc = getattr(config, '_pytest_django_checks_exc', None)
+    if check_exc:
+        terminalreporter.write('\n')
+        terminalreporter.write(str(check_exc))
+
+
 @pytest.fixture(autouse=True, scope='session')
 def django_test_environment(request):
     """
diff --git a/tests/test_fixtures.py b/tests/test_fixtures.py
index 10ceac35c..26a2e687f 100644
--- a/tests/test_fixtures.py
+++ b/tests/test_fixtures.py
@@ -222,6 +222,65 @@ def test_set_non_existent(settings):
         ])
 
 
+@pytest.mark.django_project(extra_settings="""
+    INSTALLED_APPS = ['tpkg.app']
+""")
+class TestChecks:
+
+    def test_checks_are_run(self, django_testdir):
+        django_testdir.create_app_file("""
+            from django.core.checks import Error, register
+
+            @register()
+            def succeed(app_configs, **kwargs):
+                succeed.did_run = True
+                return []
+            """, '__init__.py')
+        django_testdir.makepyfile("""
+            from tpkg.app import succeed
+
+            def test_simple(db):
+                assert getattr(succeed, 'did_run', None) is True
+            """)
+
+        result = django_testdir.runpytest_subprocess('-s')
+        assert result.ret == 0
+
+    def test_failing_checks_fail_tests(self, django_testdir):
+        django_testdir.create_app_file("""
+            from django.core.checks import Error, register
+
+            @register()
+            def fail(app_configs, **kwargs):
+                return [Error('My failure message', id='test.001')]
+            """, '__init__.py')
+        django_testdir.makepyfile("""
+            def test_simple(db):
+                assert True
+            """)
+
+        result = django_testdir.runpytest_subprocess('-s')
+        assert result.ret != 0
+        result.stdout.fnmatch_lines(['*My failure message*'])
+
+    def test_failing_checks_fail_tests_on_xdist(self, django_testdir):
+        django_testdir.create_app_file("""
+            from django.core.checks import Error, register
+
+            @register()
+            def fail(app_configs, **kwargs):
+                return [Error('My failure message', id='test.001')]
+            """, '__init__.py')
+        django_testdir.makepyfile("""
+            def test_simple(db):
+                assert True
+            """)
+
+        result = django_testdir.runpytest_subprocess('-s', '-n2')
+        assert result.ret != 0
+        result.stdout.fnmatch_lines(['*My failure message*'])
+
+
 class TestLiveServer:
     def test_url(self, live_server):
         assert live_server.url == force_text(live_server)