diff --git a/README.development b/README.development
index 91e41b022..23d3df732 100644
--- a/README.development
+++ b/README.development
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ $ . ~/pyenv/bin/activate
 
 If the distro you are using has PyQt5 installed, make sure you have the PyQt5
 WebEngine module and development tools (eg pyqt5-dev-tools) installed as well.
+When you use your distro's PyQt5, you have to use the --system-site-packages
+option when setting up the virtual environment to give it access to the system
+site-packages dir.
+
 Otherwise, run:
 
 $ pip install -r requirements.qt