diff --git a/kart/lfs_util.py b/kart/lfs_util.py
index bc23bfdf0..16da38813 100644
--- a/kart/lfs_util.py
+++ b/kart/lfs_util.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 def install_lfs_hooks(repo):
     pre_push_hook = repo.gitdir_path / "hooks" / "pre-push"
     if not pre_push_hook.is_file():
+        pre_push_hook.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
         pre_push_hook.write_text(PRE_PUSH_HOOK)
         pre_push_hook.chmod(
             pre_push_hook.stat().st_mode | stat.S_IXOTH | stat.S_IXGRP | stat.S_IXUSR
diff --git a/tests/point_cloud/test_hooks.py b/tests/point_cloud/test_hooks.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0dde5cf36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/point_cloud/test_hooks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+from kart.repo import KartRepo
+from kart.lfs_util import install_lfs_hooks
+
+
+def test_install_lfs_hooks(tmp_path, cli_runner, chdir):
+    """Create an empty Kart repository."""
+    repo_path = tmp_path / "repo"
+    repo_path.mkdir()
+
+    # empty dir
+    r = cli_runner.invoke(["init", str(repo_path)])
+    assert r.exit_code == 0, r
+
+    repo = KartRepo(repo_path)
+    install_lfs_hooks(repo)