Index: src/org/openstreetmap/josm/actions/CreateMultipolygonAction.java
===================================================================
--- src/org/openstreetmap/josm/actions/CreateMultipolygonAction.java	(revision 15296)
+++ src/org/openstreetmap/josm/actions/CreateMultipolygonAction.java	(working copy)
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
 import org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.dialogs.relation.RelationEditor;
 import org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.dialogs.relation.sort.RelationSorter;
 import org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.layer.OsmDataLayer;
+import org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.mappaint.ElemStyles;
 import org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.util.GuiHelper;
 import org.openstreetmap.josm.spi.preferences.Config;
 import org.openstreetmap.josm.tools.Pair;
@@ -321,6 +322,10 @@
         final List<Command> list = removeTagsFromWaysIfNeeded(relation);
         final String commandName;
         if (existingRelation == null) {
+            if (list.isEmpty()) {
+                String msg = tr("No area style for multipolygon");
+                GuiHelper.runInEDT(() -> new Notification(msg).setIcon(JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE).show());
+            }
             list.add(new AddCommand(selectedWays.iterator().next().getDataSet(), relation));
             commandName = getName(false);
         } else {
@@ -431,6 +436,15 @@
 
         values.put("area", OsmUtils.TRUE_VALUE);
 
+        // check if the tags are rendered as area, if not, don't copy anything
+        Way w = new Way();
+        for (Entry<String, String> entry : values.entrySet()) {
+            w.put(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
+        }
+        if (ElemStyles.getAreaElemStyle(w, true)== null) {
+            values.clear();
+        }
+
         List<Command> commands = new ArrayList<>();
         boolean moveTags = Config.getPref().getBoolean("multipoly.movetags", true);
 
