diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a90e1873c..907fa9a7e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,15 +2,17 @@
 
 ## HDMF 3.9.1 (Upcoming)
 
+### Minor improvements
+- Removed warning when namespaces are loaded and the attribute marking where the specs are cached is missing. @bendichter [#926](https://github.com/hdmf-dev/hdmf/pull/926)
+
 ### Bug fixes
 - Fixed bug allowing `DynamicTable` to be constructed with empty `id` column when initializing all columns via `AbstractDataChunkIterator` objects. @oruebel [#953](https://github.com/hdmf-dev/hdmf/pull/953)
 
-
 ## HDMF 3.9.0 (August 25, 2023)
 
 ### New features and minor improvements
-- Increase raw data chunk cache size for reading HDF5 files from 1 MiB to 32 MiB. @bendichter, @rly [#925](https://github.com/hdmf-dev/hdmf/pull/925)
-- Increase default chunk size for `GenericDataChunkIterator` from 1 MB to 10 MB. @bendichter, @rly [#925](https://github.com/hdmf-dev/hdmf/pull/925)
+- Increased raw data chunk cache size for reading HDF5 files from 1 MiB to 32 MiB. @bendichter, @rly [#925](https://github.com/hdmf-dev/hdmf/pull/925)
+- Increased default chunk size for `GenericDataChunkIterator` from 1 MB to 10 MB. @bendichter, @rly [#925](https://github.com/hdmf-dev/hdmf/pull/925)
 - Added the magic `__reduce__` method as well as two private semi-abstract helper methods to enable pickling of the `GenericDataChunkIterator`. @codycbakerphd [#924](https://github.com/hdmf-dev/hdmf/pull/924)
 - Updated `add_ref_termset` to add all instances of `TermSet` within a given root container. @mavaylon1 [#935](https://github.com/hdmf-dev/hdmf/pull/935)
 - Added Dynamic Enumerations and Schemasheets support to `TermSet`. @mavaylon1 [#923](https://github.com/hdmf-dev/hdmf/pull/923)
diff --git a/src/hdmf/backends/hdf5/h5tools.py b/src/hdmf/backends/hdf5/h5tools.py
index b4286eb6c..2bebbc3d7 100644
--- a/src/hdmf/backends/hdf5/h5tools.py
+++ b/src/hdmf/backends/hdf5/h5tools.py
@@ -208,12 +208,7 @@ def __load_namespaces(cls, namespace_catalog, namespaces, file_obj):
 
     @classmethod
     def __check_specloc(cls, file_obj):
-        if SPEC_LOC_ATTR not in file_obj.attrs:
-            # this occurs in legacy files
-            msg = "No cached namespaces found in %s" % file_obj.filename
-            warnings.warn(msg)
-            return False
-        return True
+        return SPEC_LOC_ATTR in file_obj.attrs
 
     @classmethod
     @docval({'name': 'path', 'type': (str, Path), 'doc': 'the path to the HDF5 file', 'default': None},
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_io_hdf5_h5tools.py b/tests/unit/test_io_hdf5_h5tools.py
index a45f5563d..68680db76 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_io_hdf5_h5tools.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_io_hdf5_h5tools.py
@@ -2159,9 +2159,7 @@ def test_load_namespaces_no_specloc(self):
 
         # load the namespace from file
         ns_catalog = NamespaceCatalog()
-        msg = "No cached namespaces found in %s" % self.path
-        with self.assertWarnsWith(UserWarning, msg):
-            ret = HDF5IO.load_namespaces(ns_catalog, self.path)
+        ret = HDF5IO.load_namespaces(ns_catalog, self.path)
         self.assertDictEqual(ret, {})
 
     def test_load_namespaces_resolve_custom_deps(self):
@@ -2375,9 +2373,7 @@ def test_get_namespaces_no_specloc(self):
             del f.attrs[SPEC_LOC_ATTR]
 
         # load the namespace from file
-        msg = "No cached namespaces found in %s" % self.path
-        with self.assertWarnsWith(UserWarning, msg):
-            ret = HDF5IO.get_namespaces(path=self.path)
+        ret = HDF5IO.get_namespaces(path=self.path)
         self.assertDictEqual(ret, {})