diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/IndividualDaoJena.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/IndividualDaoJena.java
index 978eeef54..29b3b8397 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/IndividualDaoJena.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/IndividualDaoJena.java
@@ -654,13 +654,16 @@ public class IndividualDaoJena extends JenaBaseDao implements IndividualDao {
      * In Jena it can be difficult to get an object with a given dataproperty if
      * you do not care about the datatype or lang of the literal.  Use this
      * method if you would like to ignore the lang and datatype.  
+     * 
+     * Note: this method doesn't require that a property be declared in the 
+     * ontology as a data property -- only that it behaves as one.
      */
     public List<Individual> getIndividualsByDataProperty(String dataPropertyUri, String value){        
         Property prop = null;
         if( RDFS.label.getURI().equals( dataPropertyUri )){
             prop = RDFS.label;
         }else{
-            prop = getOntModel().getDatatypeProperty(dataPropertyUri);
+            prop = getOntModel().getProperty(dataPropertyUri);
         }
 
         if( prop == null ) {            
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/IndividualDaoSDB.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/IndividualDaoSDB.java
index 9604599bd..7e12cf122 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/IndividualDaoSDB.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/IndividualDaoSDB.java
@@ -222,6 +222,9 @@ public class IndividualDaoSDB extends IndividualDaoJena {
      * In Jena it can be difficult to get an object with a given dataproperty if
      * you do not care about the datatype or lang of the literal.  Use this
      * method if you would like to ignore the lang and datatype.  
+     * 
+     * Note: this method doesn't require that a property be declared in the 
+     * ontology as a data property -- only that it behaves as one.
      */
     @Override
     public List<Individual> getIndividualsByDataProperty(String dataPropertyUri, String value){        
@@ -229,7 +232,7 @@ public class IndividualDaoSDB extends IndividualDaoJena {
         if( RDFS.label.getURI().equals( dataPropertyUri )){
             prop = RDFS.label;
         }else{
-            prop = getOntModel().getDatatypeProperty(dataPropertyUri);
+            prop = getOntModel().getProperty(dataPropertyUri);
         }
 
         if( prop == null ) {