diff --git a/rhodecode/lib/middleware/simplevcs.py b/rhodecode/lib/middleware/simplevcs.py
--- a/rhodecode/lib/middleware/simplevcs.py
+++ b/rhodecode/lib/middleware/simplevcs.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ from paste.httpheaders import REMOTE_USE
 # TODO(marcink): check if we should use webob.exc here ?
 from pyramid.httpexceptions import (
     HTTPNotFound, HTTPForbidden, HTTPNotAcceptable, HTTPInternalServerError)
+from zope.cachedescriptors.property import Lazy as LazyProperty
 
 import rhodecode
 from rhodecode.authentication.base import (
@@ -121,12 +122,28 @@ class SimpleVCS(object):
             auth_ret_code_detection)
         self.ip_addr = '0.0.0.0'
 
+    @LazyProperty
+    def global_vcs_config(self):
+        try:
+            return VcsSettingsModel().get_ui_settings_as_config_obj()
+        except Exception:
+            return base.Config()
+
     @property
     def base_path(self):
-        settings_path = self.repo_vcs_config.get(*VcsSettingsModel.PATH_SETTING)
+        settings_path = self.repo_vcs_config.get(
+            *VcsSettingsModel.PATH_SETTING)
+
+        if not settings_path:
+            settings_path = self.global_vcs_config.get(
+            *VcsSettingsModel.PATH_SETTING)
+
         if not settings_path:
             # try, maybe we passed in explicitly as config option
             settings_path = self.config.get('base_path')
+
+        if not settings_path:
+            raise ValueError('FATAL: base_path is empty')
         return settings_path
 
     def set_repo_names(self, environ):
diff --git a/rhodecode/tests/lib/middleware/test_vcs.py b/rhodecode/tests/lib/middleware/test_vcs.py
--- a/rhodecode/tests/lib/middleware/test_vcs.py
+++ b/rhodecode/tests/lib/middleware/test_vcs.py
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ def test_is_hg_no_cmd():
 
 def test_is_hg_empty_cmd():
     environ = {
+        'REQUEST_METHOD': 'GET',
         'PATH_INFO': svn_repo_path,
         'QUERY_STRING': 'cmd=',
         'HTTP_ACCEPT': 'application/mercurial'
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ def test_is_hg_empty_cmd():
 
 def test_is_svn_returns_true_if_subversion_is_in_a_dav_header():
     environ = {
+        'REQUEST_METHOD': 'GET',
         'PATH_INFO': svn_repo_path,
         'HTTP_DAV': 'http://subversion.tigris.org/xmlns/dav/svn/log-revprops'
     }
@@ -65,6 +67,7 @@ def test_is_svn_returns_true_if_subversi
 
 def test_is_svn_returns_false_if_subversion_is_not_in_a_dav_header():
     environ = {
+        'REQUEST_METHOD': 'GET',
         'PATH_INFO': svn_repo_path,
         'HTTP_DAV': 'http://stuff.tigris.org/xmlns/dav/svn/log-revprops'
     }
@@ -73,6 +76,7 @@ def test_is_svn_returns_false_if_subvers
 
 def test_is_svn_returns_false_if_no_dav_header():
     environ = {
+        'REQUEST_METHOD': 'GET',
         'PATH_INFO': svn_repo_path,
     }
     assert vcs.is_svn(environ) is False
@@ -85,6 +89,14 @@ def test_is_svn_returns_true_if_magic_pa
     assert vcs.is_svn(environ)
 
 
+def test_is_svn_returns_true_if_propfind():
+    environ = {
+        'REQUEST_METHOD': 'PROPFIND',
+        'PATH_INFO': svn_repo_path,
+    }
+    assert vcs.is_svn(environ) is True
+
+
 def test_is_svn_allows_to_configure_the_magic_path(monkeypatch):
     """
     This is intended as a fallback in case someone has configured his
@@ -93,6 +105,7 @@ def test_is_svn_allows_to_configure_the_
     monkeypatch.setitem(
         rhodecode.CONFIG, 'rhodecode_subversion_magic_path', '/!my-magic')
     environ = {
+        'REQUEST_METHOD': 'POST',
         'PATH_INFO': '/stub-repository/!my-magic/rev/4',
     }
     assert vcs.is_svn(environ)