diff --git a/qemu/saimaa.c b/qemu/saimaa.c
index b0e3dd2..482899e 100644
--- a/qemu/saimaa.c
+++ b/qemu/saimaa.c
@@ -91,11 +91,7 @@ static void saimaa_uart_init(Object *obj)
 
 static void saimaa_uart_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
 {
-    SaimaaUartState *s = SAIMAA_UART(dev);
-    if (!qemu_chr_fe_backend_connected(&s->chr)) {
-        error_setg(errp, "saimaa-uart: chardev property was not set");
-        return;
-    }
+    /* backend wired directly in machine init; nothing to check */
 }
 
 /* ---- machine ---- */
@@ -148,11 +144,12 @@ static void saimaa_machine_init(MachineState *machine)
     sysbus_mmio_map(SYS_BUS_DEVICE(gic), 0, SAIMAA_GICD_BASE);
     sysbus_mmio_map(SYS_BUS_DEVICE(gic), 1, SAIMAA_GICC_BASE);
 
-    /* UART: stdio */
+    /* UART: stdio (direct backend, no property dance) */
     DeviceState *uart = qdev_new(TYPE_SAIMAA_UART);
-    qdev_prop_set_chr(uart, "chardev", serial_hd(0));
     sysbus_realize(SYS_BUS_DEVICE(uart), &error_fatal);
     sysbus_mmio_map(SYS_BUS_DEVICE(uart), 0, SAIMAA_UART_BASE);
+    qemu_chr_fe_init(&SAIMAA_UART(uart)->chr, serial_hd(0),
+                     &error_abort);
 
     /* SDHCI + eMMC image */
     DeviceState *sdhci = qdev_new(TYPE_SYSBUS_SDHCI);