diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs
index 8c779001f4..dfa9a59ca9 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs
@@ -262,6 +262,20 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions
         internal static string FormatPageDirectiveCannotBeImported(object p0, object p1)
             => string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, GetString("PageDirectiveCannotBeImported"), p0, p1);
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The '@{0}' directive must exist at the top of the file. Only comments and whitespace are allowed before the '@{0}' directive.
+        /// </summary>
+        internal static string PageDirectiveMustExistAtTheTopOfFile
+        {
+            get => GetString("PageDirectiveMustExistAtTheTopOfFile");
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The '@{0}' directive must exist at the top of the file. Only comments and whitespace are allowed before the '@{0}' directive.
+        /// </summary>
+        internal static string FormatPageDirectiveMustExistAtTheTopOfFile(object p0)
+            => string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, GetString("PageDirectiveMustExistAtTheTopOfFile"), p0);
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Mark the page as a Razor Page.
         /// </summary>
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/RazorExtensionsDiagnosticFactory.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/RazorExtensionsDiagnosticFactory.cs
index 1e2f6a1f7e..74adb4fe93 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/RazorExtensionsDiagnosticFactory.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/RazorExtensionsDiagnosticFactory.cs
@@ -113,5 +113,19 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions
 
             return diagnostic;
         }
+
+        internal static readonly RazorDiagnosticDescriptor PageDirective_MustExistAtTheTopOfFile =
+            new RazorDiagnosticDescriptor(
+                $"{DiagnosticPrefix}3906",
+                () => Resources.PageDirectiveMustExistAtTheTopOfFile,
+                RazorDiagnosticSeverity.Error);
+
+        public static RazorDiagnostic CreatePageDirective_MustExistAtTheTopOfFile(SourceSpan source)
+        {
+            var fileName = Path.GetFileName(source.FilePath);
+            var diagnostic = RazorDiagnostic.Create(PageDirective_MustExistAtTheTopOfFile, source, PageDirective.Directive.Directive);
+
+            return diagnostic;
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/RazorPageDocumentClassifierPass.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/RazorPageDocumentClassifierPass.cs
index 1dfb460a47..99b3ba8d19 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/RazorPageDocumentClassifierPass.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/RazorPageDocumentClassifierPass.cs
@@ -13,6 +13,25 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions
         public static readonly string RazorPageDocumentKind = "mvc.1.0.razor-page";
         public static readonly string RouteTemplateKey = "RouteTemplate";
 
+        private static readonly RazorProjectEngine LeadingDirectiveParsingEngine = RazorProjectEngine.Create(
+            RazorConfiguration.Default,
+            RazorProjectFileSystem.Create("/"),
+            builder =>
+            {
+                for (var i = builder.Phases.Count - 1; i >= 0; i--)
+                {
+                    var phase = builder.Phases[i];
+                    builder.Phases.RemoveAt(i);
+                    if (phase is IRazorDocumentClassifierPhase)
+                    {
+                        break;
+                    }
+                }
+
+                RazorExtensions.Register(builder);
+                builder.Features.Add(new LeadingDirectiveParserOptionsFeature());
+            });
+
         protected override string DocumentKind => RazorPageDocumentKind;
 
         protected override bool IsMatch(RazorCodeDocument codeDocument, DocumentIntermediateNode documentNode)
@@ -48,7 +67,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions
             var document = codeDocument.GetDocumentIntermediateNode();
             PageDirective.TryGetPageDirective(document, out var pageDirective);
 
-            EnsureValidPageDirective(pageDirective);
+            EnsureValidPageDirective(codeDocument, pageDirective);
 
             AddRouteTemplateMetadataAttribute(@namespace, @class, pageDirective);
         }
@@ -75,7 +94,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions
             @namespace.Children.Insert(classIndex, metadataAttributeNode);
         }
 
-        private void EnsureValidPageDirective(PageDirective pageDirective)
+        private void EnsureValidPageDirective(RazorCodeDocument codeDocument, PageDirective pageDirective)
         {
             Debug.Assert(pageDirective != null);
 
@@ -84,6 +103,33 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions
                 pageDirective.DirectiveNode.Diagnostics.Add(
                     RazorExtensionsDiagnosticFactory.CreatePageDirective_CannotBeImported(pageDirective.DirectiveNode.Source.Value));
             }
+            else
+            {
+                // The document contains a page directive and it is not imported.
+                // We now want to make sure this page directive exists at the top of the file.
+                // We are going to do that by re-parsing the document until the very first line that is not Razor comment
+                // or whitespace. We then make sure the page directive still exists in the re-parsed IR tree.
+                var leadingDirectiveCodeDocument = RazorCodeDocument.Create(codeDocument.Source);
+                LeadingDirectiveParsingEngine.Engine.Process(leadingDirectiveCodeDocument);
+
+                var documentIRNode = leadingDirectiveCodeDocument.GetDocumentIntermediateNode();
+                if (!PageDirective.TryGetPageDirective(documentIRNode, out var _))
+                {
+                    // The page directive is not the leading directive. Add an error.
+                    pageDirective.DirectiveNode.Diagnostics.Add(
+                        RazorExtensionsDiagnosticFactory.CreatePageDirective_MustExistAtTheTopOfFile(pageDirective.DirectiveNode.Source.Value));
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        private class LeadingDirectiveParserOptionsFeature : RazorEngineFeatureBase, IConfigureRazorParserOptionsFeature
+        {
+            public int Order { get; }
+
+            public void Configure(RazorParserOptionsBuilder options)
+            {
+                options.ParseLeadingDirectives = true;
+            }
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/Resources.resx b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/Resources.resx
index 41cf3a1b03..474537197e 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/Resources.resx
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions/Resources.resx
@@ -171,6 +171,9 @@
   <data name="PageDirectiveCannotBeImported" xml:space="preserve">
     <value>The '@{0}' directive specified in {1} file will not be imported. The directive must appear at the top of each Razor cshtml file.</value>
   </data>
+  <data name="PageDirectiveMustExistAtTheTopOfFile" xml:space="preserve">
+    <value>The '@{0}' directive must precede all other elements defined in a Razor file.</value>
+  </data>
   <data name="PageDirective_Description" xml:space="preserve">
     <value>Mark the page as a Razor Page.</value>
   </data>
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions.Test/RazorPageDocumentClassifierPassTest.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions.Test/RazorPageDocumentClassifierPassTest.cs
index e3ba1aa9d6..0ba9dd5178 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions.Test/RazorPageDocumentClassifierPassTest.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions.Test/RazorPageDocumentClassifierPassTest.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // Copyright (c) .NET Foundation. All rights reserved.
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
 
+using System;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Language;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Language.Extensions;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Language.Intermediate;
@@ -36,6 +37,72 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Extensions
             Assert.Equal(expectedDiagnostic, diagnostic);
         }
 
+        [Fact]
+        public void RazorPageDocumentClassifierPass_LogsErrorIfDirectiveNotAtTopOfFile()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var sourceSpan = new SourceSpan(
+                "Test.cshtml",
+                absoluteIndex: 14 + Environment.NewLine.Length * 2,
+                lineIndex: 2,
+                characterIndex: 0,
+                length: 5 + Environment.NewLine.Length);
+
+            var expectedDiagnostic = RazorExtensionsDiagnosticFactory.CreatePageDirective_MustExistAtTheTopOfFile(sourceSpan);
+            var content = @"
+@somethingelse
+@page
+";
+            var codeDocument = RazorCodeDocument.Create(RazorSourceDocument.Create(content, "Test.cshtml"));
+
+            var engine = CreateEngine();
+            var irDocument = CreateIRDocument(engine, codeDocument);
+            var pass = new RazorPageDocumentClassifierPass
+            {
+                Engine = engine
+            };
+
+            // Act
+            pass.Execute(codeDocument, irDocument);
+            var visitor = new Visitor();
+            visitor.Visit(irDocument);
+
+            // Assert
+            var pageDirectives = irDocument.FindDirectiveReferences(PageDirective.Directive);
+            var directive = Assert.Single(pageDirectives);
+            var diagnostic = Assert.Single(directive.Node.Diagnostics);
+            Assert.Equal(expectedDiagnostic, diagnostic);
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public void RazorPageDocumentClassifierPass_DoesNotLogErrorIfCommentAndWhitespaceBeforeDirective()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var content = @"
+@* some comment *@
+     
+@page
+";
+            var codeDocument = RazorCodeDocument.Create(RazorSourceDocument.Create(content, "Test.cshtml"));
+
+            var engine = CreateEngine();
+            var irDocument = CreateIRDocument(engine, codeDocument);
+            var pass = new RazorPageDocumentClassifierPass
+            {
+                Engine = engine
+            };
+
+            // Act
+            pass.Execute(codeDocument, irDocument);
+            var visitor = new Visitor();
+            visitor.Visit(irDocument);
+
+            // Assert
+            var pageDirectives = irDocument.FindDirectiveReferences(PageDirective.Directive);
+            var directive = Assert.Single(pageDirectives);
+            Assert.Empty(directive.Node.Diagnostics);
+        }
+
         [Fact]
         public void RazorPageDocumentClassifierPass_SetsDocumentKind()
         {