diff --git a/vscode-extensions/commons/language-server-test-harness/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/languageserver/testharness/Editor.java b/vscode-extensions/commons/language-server-test-harness/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/languageserver/testharness/Editor.java
index cb7c69b0f..7061a150a 100644
--- a/vscode-extensions/commons/language-server-test-harness/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/languageserver/testharness/Editor.java
+++ b/vscode-extensions/commons/language-server-test-harness/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/languageserver/testharness/Editor.java
@@ -343,6 +343,20 @@ public class Editor {
 		assertContains(expectSnippet, hover.getContents().toString());
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Verifies an expected textSnippet is contained in the hover text that is
+	 * computed when hovering mouse at position at the end of first occurrence of
+	 * a given string in the editor.
+	 */
+	public void assertHoverExactText(String afterString, String expectSnippet) throws Exception {
+		int pos = getRawText().indexOf(afterString);
+		if (pos>=0) {
+			pos += afterString.length();
+		}
+		Hover hover = harness.getHover(document, document.toPosition(pos));
+		assertEquals(expectSnippet, hover.getContents().toString());
+	}
+
 	public void assertCompletionDetails(String expectLabel, String expectDetail, String expectDocSnippet) throws Exception {
 		CompletionItem it = harness.resolveCompletionItem(assertCompletionWithLabel(expectLabel));
 		if (expectDetail!=null) {
diff --git a/vscode-extensions/vscode-boot-properties/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/common/InformationTemplates.java b/vscode-extensions/vscode-boot-properties/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/common/InformationTemplates.java
index f84c193fd..4ae8484bd 100644
--- a/vscode-extensions/vscode-boot-properties/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/common/InformationTemplates.java
+++ b/vscode-extensions/vscode-boot-properties/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/common/InformationTemplates.java
@@ -24,12 +24,14 @@ public class InformationTemplates {
 	
 	public static Renderable createHover(PropertyInfo info) {
 		Deprecation deprecation = createDeprecation(info);
-		return InformationTemplates.createHover(info.getId(), info.getType(), info.getDefaultValue(), text(info.getDescription()), deprecation);
+		Renderable description = info.getDescription() == null ? null : text(info.getDescription());
+		return InformationTemplates.createHover(info.getId(), info.getType(), info.getDefaultValue(), description, deprecation);
 	}
 	
 	public static Renderable createCompletionDocumentation(PropertyInfo info) {
 		Deprecation deprecation = createDeprecation(info);
-		return InformationTemplates.createCompletionDocumentation(text(info.getDescription()), info.getDefaultValue(), deprecation);
+		Renderable description = info.getDescription() == null ? null : text(info.getDescription());
+		return InformationTemplates.createCompletionDocumentation(description, info.getDefaultValue(), deprecation);
 	}
 	
 	public static Renderable createHover(String id, String type, Object defaultValue, Renderable description, Deprecation deprecation) {
diff --git a/vscode-extensions/vscode-boot-properties/src/test/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/test/ApplicationPropertiesEditorTest.java b/vscode-extensions/vscode-boot-properties/src/test/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/test/ApplicationPropertiesEditorTest.java
index 7ce70df72..025fa51b8 100644
--- a/vscode-extensions/vscode-boot-properties/src/test/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/test/ApplicationPropertiesEditorTest.java
+++ b/vscode-extensions/vscode-boot-properties/src/test/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/test/ApplicationPropertiesEditorTest.java
@@ -1577,6 +1577,14 @@ public class ApplicationPropertiesEditorTest extends AbstractPropsEditorTest {
 		editor.assertNoHover("ggggg.kkkk");
 	}
 
+	@Test public void testEmptyDescriptionHover() throws Exception {
+		data("debug", "java.lang.String", null, null);
+		Editor editor = newEditor(
+				"debug=something\n"
+		);
+		editor.assertHoverExactText("debug", "[**debug**  \n[java.lang.String](null)]");
+	}
+	
 	@Override
 	protected SimpleLanguageServer newLanguageServer() {
 		BootPropertiesLanguageServer server = new BootPropertiesLanguageServer(md.getIndexProvider(), typeUtilProvider, javaProjectFinder);