diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index e7cd9c6..94fcca0 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 Changelog
 ---------
+
+- Fixes adding mini html for an empty string throwing an error.
+  [msom]
+
 0.3.3 (2018-01-18)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/onegov/pdf/pdf.py b/onegov/pdf/pdf.py
index 03b99d4..9eeca0a 100644
--- a/onegov/pdf/pdf.py
+++ b/onegov/pdf/pdf.py
@@ -320,6 +320,9 @@ def mini_html(self, html):
 
         """
 
+        if not html:
+            return
+
         def strip(text):
             text = text.strip('\r\n')
             prefix = ' ' if text.startswith(' ') else ''