diff --git a/packages/tpetra/core/src/Tpetra_BlockMultiVector_decl.hpp b/packages/tpetra/core/src/Tpetra_BlockMultiVector_decl.hpp
index a2277dc77ac9..ccd28b22b8ae 100644
--- a/packages/tpetra/core/src/Tpetra_BlockMultiVector_decl.hpp
+++ b/packages/tpetra/core/src/Tpetra_BlockMultiVector_decl.hpp
@@ -326,7 +326,8 @@ class BlockMultiVector :
   ///
   /// This is how you can give a BlockMultiVector to Trilinos' solvers
   /// and preconditioners.
-  mv_type getMultiVectorView () const;
+  const mv_type & getMultiVectorView () const;
+  mv_type & getMultiVectorView ();
 
   //@}
   //! \name Coarse-grained operations
diff --git a/packages/tpetra/core/src/Tpetra_BlockMultiVector_def.hpp b/packages/tpetra/core/src/Tpetra_BlockMultiVector_def.hpp
index 415a27dc6437..633d7c502618 100644
--- a/packages/tpetra/core/src/Tpetra_BlockMultiVector_def.hpp
+++ b/packages/tpetra/core/src/Tpetra_BlockMultiVector_def.hpp
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #ifndef TPETRA_BLOCKMULTIVECTOR_DEF_HPP
 #define TPETRA_BLOCKMULTIVECTOR_DEF_HPP
 
+#include "Tpetra_BlockMultiVector_decl.hpp"
 #include "Tpetra_Details_Behavior.hpp"
 #include "Tpetra_BlockView.hpp"
 #include "Teuchos_OrdinalTraits.hpp"
@@ -18,13 +19,21 @@
 namespace Tpetra {
 
 template<class Scalar, class LO, class GO, class Node>
-typename BlockMultiVector<Scalar, LO, GO, Node>::mv_type
+const typename BlockMultiVector<Scalar, LO, GO, Node>::mv_type &
 BlockMultiVector<Scalar, LO, GO, Node>::
 getMultiVectorView () const
 {
   return mv_;
 }
 
+template<class Scalar, class LO, class GO, class Node>
+typename BlockMultiVector<Scalar, LO, GO, Node>::mv_type &
+BlockMultiVector<Scalar, LO, GO, Node>::
+getMultiVectorView ()
+{
+  return mv_;
+}
+
 template<class Scalar, class LO, class GO, class Node>
 Teuchos::RCP<const BlockMultiVector<Scalar, LO, GO, Node> >
 BlockMultiVector<Scalar, LO, GO, Node>::