diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index ab6d01b7..519f3560 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -180,6 +180,12 @@ archivematica_src_configure_am_whitelist: '""'               # Dashboard API whi
 #  uri_prefix: "http://amurl"                               # ASpace uri_prefix
 
 
+#
+# upgrade requirements checks
+#
+check_for_upgrade_requirements: True
+force_completedTransfers_cleanup: False
+
 #
 #  Send logs to syslog
 #
diff --git a/tasks/main.yml b/tasks/main.yml
index 058a734b..1457727d 100644
--- a/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/tasks/main.yml
@@ -84,6 +84,15 @@
        archivematica_src_install_am|bool or
        archivematica_src_install_am=='rpm'"
  
+#
+# basic checks before upgrade
+#
+
+- include: upgrade-requirements.yml
+  tags: "check-upgrade-requirements"
+  when: 
+  - "check_for_upgrade_requirements|bool"
+  - "archivematica_src_configure_dashboard|bool"
 
 - name: "Checkout out archivematica-sampledata repository"
   git:
diff --git a/tasks/upgrade-requirements.yml b/tasks/upgrade-requirements.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..889f875f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tasks/upgrade-requirements.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+---
+# The intention of this task is to check for some basic requirements for upgrading archivematica
+
+- name: "Checking completedTransfers folder for files..."
+  shell: ls {{ archivematica_src_shareddir }}/watchedDirectories/SIPCreation/completedTransfers | wc -l
+  register: completedTransfersFiles
+
+- name: "CompletedTransfers folder has {{ completedTransfersFiles.stdout }} files"
+  fail:
+    msg: 
+    - "Abort!! The {{ archivematica_src_shareddir }}watchedDirectories/SIPCreation/completedTransfers has 
+    {{ completedTransfersFiles.stdout }} files and could cause a large amount of emails after the upgrade."
+    - "Please remove these files before continue or set the variable force_completedTransfers_cleanup: True "
+  when: 
+  - completedTransfersFiles.stdout != "0" 
+  - not force_completedTransfers_cleanup|bool
+
+- name: Cleaning {{ archivematica_src_shareddir }} folder before upgrading
+#  file:
+#    state: absent
+#    path: "{{ archivematica_src_shareddir }}/watchedDirectories/SIPCreation/completedTransfers/"
+  shell: "rm -rf {{ archivematica_src_shareddir }}/watchedDirectories/SIPCreation/completedTransfers/*"
+  when: 
+  - completedTransfersFiles.stdout != "0" 
+  - force_completedTransfers_cleanup|bool
\ No newline at end of file