diff --git a/sitemesh/src/main/java/org/sitemesh/content/tagrules/decorate/SiteMeshWriteRule.java b/sitemesh/src/main/java/org/sitemesh/content/tagrules/decorate/SiteMeshWriteRule.java
index 1434631..679f2a6 100644
--- a/sitemesh/src/main/java/org/sitemesh/content/tagrules/decorate/SiteMeshWriteRule.java
+++ b/sitemesh/src/main/java/org/sitemesh/content/tagrules/decorate/SiteMeshWriteRule.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 public class SiteMeshWriteRule extends BasicBlockRule {
 
     private final SiteMeshContext siteMeshContext;
+    private ContentProperty property;
 
     public SiteMeshWriteRule(SiteMeshContext siteMeshContext) {
         this.siteMeshContext = siteMeshContext;
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ protected Object processStart(Tag tag) throws IOException {
         String propertyPath = tag.getAttributeValue("property", true);
         Content contentToMerge = siteMeshContext.getContentToMerge();
         if (contentToMerge != null) {
-            ContentProperty property = getProperty(contentToMerge, propertyPath);
+            property = getProperty(contentToMerge, propertyPath);
             property.writeValueTo(tagProcessorContext.currentBuffer());
         }
         tagProcessorContext.pushBuffer();
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ protected ContentProperty getProperty(Content content, String propertyPath) {
     protected void processEnd(Tag tag, Object data) throws IOException {
         CharSequence defaultContents = tagProcessorContext.currentBufferContents();
         tagProcessorContext.popBuffer();
-        if (siteMeshContext.getContentToMerge() == null) {
+        if (siteMeshContext.getContentToMerge() == null || !property.hasValue()) {
             tagProcessorContext.currentBuffer().append(defaultContents);
         }
     }
diff --git a/sitemesh/src/test/java/org/sitemesh/content/tagrules/decorate/SiteMeshWriteRuleTest.java b/sitemesh/src/test/java/org/sitemesh/content/tagrules/decorate/SiteMeshWriteRuleTest.java
index f7c3b47..10bd9ec 100644
--- a/sitemesh/src/test/java/org/sitemesh/content/tagrules/decorate/SiteMeshWriteRuleTest.java
+++ b/sitemesh/src/test/java/org/sitemesh/content/tagrules/decorate/SiteMeshWriteRuleTest.java
@@ -57,8 +57,8 @@ public void testRemovesTagBodyIfContentSupplied() throws IOException {
         SiteMeshContextStub context = new SiteMeshContextStub();
         context.setContentToMerge(content);
 
-        String in = "Hello <sitemesh:write property='notfound'>X</sitemesh:write>" +
-                " <sitemesh:write property='found.not'>X</sitemesh:write>!";
+        String in = "Hello <sitemesh:write property='notfound'></sitemesh:write>" +
+                " <sitemesh:write property='found.not'></sitemesh:write>!";
         TagProcessor tagProcessor = new TagProcessor(CharBuffer.wrap(in));
         tagProcessor.addRule("sitemesh:write", new SiteMeshWriteRule(context));
         tagProcessor.process();
@@ -81,20 +81,20 @@ public void testLeavesTagBodyIfContentMissing() throws IOException {
         assertEquals("Hello X X!", out.toString());
     }
 
-    public void testSkipsMissingProperties() throws IOException {
+    public void testLeavesTagBodyForMissingProperties() throws IOException {
         Content content = new InMemoryContent();
         SiteMeshContextStub context = new SiteMeshContextStub();
         content.getExtractedProperties().getChild("found").setValue("FOUND");
         context.setContentToMerge(content);
 
         String in = "Hello <sitemesh:write property='found'>BAD</sitemesh:write>" +
-                " <sitemesh:write property='notfound'>BAD</sitemesh:write>!";
+                " <sitemesh:write property='notfound'>GOOD</sitemesh:write>!";
         TagProcessor tagProcessor = new TagProcessor(CharBuffer.wrap(in));
         tagProcessor.addRule("sitemesh:write", new SiteMeshWriteRule(context));
         tagProcessor.process();
         CharSequence out = tagProcessor.getDefaultBufferContents();
 
-        assertEquals("Hello FOUND !", out.toString());
+        assertEquals("Hello FOUND GOOD!", out.toString());
     }
 
     public void testWritesBodyAttributesSimple() throws IOException {