diff --git a/src/storm/exceptions/BaseException.cpp b/src/storm/exceptions/BaseException.cpp
index 626231487..86119f600 100644
--- a/src/storm/exceptions/BaseException.cpp
+++ b/src/storm/exceptions/BaseException.cpp
@@ -19,11 +19,8 @@ namespace storm {
 		}
         
         const char* BaseException::what() const NOEXCEPT {
-            std::string errorString = this->stream.str();
-            char* result = new char[errorString.size() + 1];
-            result[errorString.size()] = '\0';
-            std::copy(errorString.begin(), errorString.end(), result);
-            return result;
+            errorString = this->stream.str();
+            return errorString.c_str();
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/storm/exceptions/BaseException.h b/src/storm/exceptions/BaseException.h
index f9224cfb9..a3febc290 100644
--- a/src/storm/exceptions/BaseException.h
+++ b/src/storm/exceptions/BaseException.h
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ namespace storm {
         protected:
             // This stream stores the message of this exception.
             std::stringstream stream;
+
+        private:
+            // storage for the string backing the C string returned by what()
+            mutable std::string errorString;
         };
         
     } // namespace exceptions