diff --git a/app/models/geo_area.rb b/app/models/geo_area.rb
index b8dcd31fe..ff57fbb9c 100644
--- a/app/models/geo_area.rb
+++ b/app/models/geo_area.rb
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ class GeoArea < ApplicationRecord
     if value.is_a? String
       ActiveRecord::Coders::YAMLColumn.new(:properties).load(value)
     else
-      value
+      value || {}
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/models/geo_area_spec.rb b/spec/models/geo_area_spec.rb
index ac3e1aab2..dfb5aa10e 100644
--- a/spec/models/geo_area_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/geo_area_spec.rb
@@ -100,4 +100,12 @@ RSpec.describe GeoArea, type: :model do
       end
     end
   end
+
+  describe 'description' do
+    context 'when properties is nil' do
+      let(:geo_area) { build(:geo_area, properties: nil) }
+
+      it { expect(geo_area.description).to be_nil }
+    end
+  end
 end