diff --git a/django/newforms/forms.py b/django/newforms/forms.py
index c5e4513f9c..e9cf4ca11c 100644
--- a/django/newforms/forms.py
+++ b/django/newforms/forms.py
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ class BoundField(StrAndUnicode):
             self.label = pretty_name(name)
         else:
             self.label = self.field.label
-        self.help_text = field.help_text
+        self.help_text = field.help_text or ''
 
     def __unicode__(self):
         "Renders this field as an HTML widget."
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/forms/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/forms/tests.py
index 5bd56109a1..c53729da46 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/forms/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/forms/tests.py
@@ -3044,6 +3044,8 @@ does not have help text, nothing will be output.
 <p>Password2: <input type="password" name="password2" /></p>
 <input type="submit" />
 </form>
+>>> Template('{{ form.password1.help_text }}').render(Context({'form': UserRegistration(auto_id=False)}))
+''
 
 The label_tag() method takes an optional attrs argument: a dictionary of HTML
 attributes to add to the <label> tag.