diff --git a/app/models/project.rb b/app/models/project.rb
index bbe590b5a8a..94aabafce20 100644
--- a/app/models/project.rb
+++ b/app/models/project.rb
@@ -1334,6 +1334,10 @@ class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
     end
   end
 
+  def only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved
+    super || false
+  end
+
   private
 
   def pushes_since_gc_redis_key
diff --git a/db/migrate/20160914131004_only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved.rb b/db/migrate/20160914131004_only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved.rb
index fad62d716b3..4da5ec9bd28 100644
--- a/db/migrate/20160914131004_only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved.rb
+++ b/db/migrate/20160914131004_only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved.rb
@@ -5,10 +5,7 @@ class OnlyAllowMergeIfAllDiscussionsAreResolved < ActiveRecord::Migration
   disable_ddl_transaction!
 
   def up
-    add_column_with_default(:projects,
-                            :only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved,
-                            :boolean,
-                            default: false)
+    add_column :projects, :only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved, :boolean
   end
 
   def down
diff --git a/db/migrate/20161011222551_remove_inactive_jira_service_properties.rb b/db/post_migrate/20161011222551_remove_inactive_jira_service_properties.rb
similarity index 100%
rename from db/migrate/20161011222551_remove_inactive_jira_service_properties.rb
rename to db/post_migrate/20161011222551_remove_inactive_jira_service_properties.rb
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
index 3efb884c113..886be4520a3 100644
--- a/db/schema.rb
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -915,7 +915,7 @@ ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20161109150329) do
     t.boolean "has_external_wiki"
     t.boolean "lfs_enabled"
     t.text "description_html"
-    t.boolean "only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved", default: false, null: false
+    t.boolean "only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved"
   end
 
   add_index "projects", ["ci_id"], name: "index_projects_on_ci_id", using: :btree
diff --git a/spec/requests/api/projects_spec.rb b/spec/requests/api/projects_spec.rb
index d6e9fd2c4b2..f020d471422 100644
--- a/spec/requests/api/projects_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/api/projects_spec.rb
@@ -360,6 +360,14 @@ describe API::API, api: true  do
       expect(json_response['only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved']).to be_falsey
     end
 
+    it 'sets a project as allowing merge if only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved is nil' do
+      project = attributes_for(:project, only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved: nil)
+
+      post api('/projects', user), project
+
+      expect(json_response['only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved']).to be_falsey
+    end
+
     it 'sets a project as allowing merge only if all discussions are resolved' do
       project = attributes_for(:project, { only_allow_merge_if_all_discussions_are_resolved: true })