diff --git a/src/register.c b/src/register.c
index f3df79c..e481d84 100644
--- a/src/register.c
+++ b/src/register.c
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@
     if (copy)
     {
 	// If we run out of memory some or all of the lines are empty.
-	if (reg->y_size == 0)
+	if (reg->y_size == 0 || y_current->y_array == NULL)
 	    reg->y_array = NULL;
 	else
 	    reg->y_array = ALLOC_MULT(char_u *, reg->y_size);
diff --git a/src/testdir/test_registers.vim b/src/testdir/test_registers.vim
index e966932..33ea0f4 100644
--- a/src/testdir/test_registers.vim
+++ b/src/testdir/test_registers.vim
@@ -835,6 +835,23 @@
   bwipe!
 endfunc
 
+" This was causing a crash because y_append was ending up being NULL
+func Test_zero_y_append()
+  " Run in a separate Vim instance because changing 'encoding' may cause
+  " trouble for later tests.
+  let lines =<< trim END
+      d
+      silent ?n
+      next <sfile>
+      so
+      sil! norm 0VPSP
+      set enc=latin1
+       
+  END
+  call writefile(lines, 'XTest_zero_y_append', 'D')
+  call RunVim([], [], '-u NONE -i NONE -e -s -S XTest_zero_y_append -c qa\!')
+endfunc
+
 " Make sure that y_append is correctly reset
 " and the previous register is working as expected
 func Test_register_y_append_reset()
diff --git a/src/version.c b/src/version.c
index 310803c..7ee9f57 100644
--- a/src/version.c
+++ b/src/version.c
@@ -696,6 +696,8 @@
 static int included_patches[] =
 {   /* Add new patch number below this line */
 /**/
+    1531,
+/**/
     1530,
 /**/
     1529,