diff --git a/src/Forms/TextareaField.php b/src/Forms/TextareaField.php
index 6f0b0dd64..77b5b8ea2 100644
--- a/src/Forms/TextareaField.php
+++ b/src/Forms/TextareaField.php
@@ -134,16 +134,22 @@ class TextareaField extends FormField
      */
     public function getAttributes()
     {
-        return array_merge(
+        $attributes = array_merge(
             parent::getAttributes(),
             array(
                 'rows' => $this->getRows(),
                 'cols' => $this->getColumns(),
                 'value' => null,
                 'type' => null,
-                'maxlength' => $this->getMaxLength(),
             )
         );
+
+        $maxLength = $this->getMaxLength();
+        if($maxLength) {
+            $attributes['maxlength'] = $maxLength;
+        }
+
+        return $attributes;
     }
 
 
diff --git a/tests/php/Forms/FormSchemaTest/testGetNestedSchema.json b/tests/php/Forms/FormSchemaTest/testGetNestedSchema.json
index 6e6b70118..8386f140c 100644
--- a/tests/php/Forms/FormSchemaTest/testGetNestedSchema.json
+++ b/tests/php/Forms/FormSchemaTest/testGetNestedSchema.json
@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@
       "autoFocus": false,
       "customValidationMessage": "",
       "attributes": [],
-      "data": [],
+      "data": {
+        "maxlength": null
+      },
       "validation": []
     },
     {
diff --git a/tests/php/Forms/FormSchemaTest/testSchemaValidation.json b/tests/php/Forms/FormSchemaTest/testSchemaValidation.json
index 9e6835eb8..e7f3bc3d0 100644
--- a/tests/php/Forms/FormSchemaTest/testSchemaValidation.json
+++ b/tests/php/Forms/FormSchemaTest/testSchemaValidation.json
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@
             "disabled": false,
             "autoFocus": false,
             "customValidationMessage": "",
-            "maxLength": 40,
             "validation": {
                 "required": true,
                 "max": {
@@ -38,7 +37,9 @@
                 }
             },
             "attributes": [],
-            "data": []
+            "data": {
+              "maxlength": 40
+            }
         },
         {
             "name": "Date",
@@ -65,7 +66,8 @@
             "data": {
                 "html5": true,
                 "min": null,
-                "max": null
+                "max": null,
+                "maxlength": null
             }
         },
         {
@@ -89,7 +91,9 @@
                 "numeric": true
             },
             "attributes": [],
-            "data": []
+            "data": {
+                "maxlength": null
+            }
         },
         {
             "name": "Money",
@@ -112,7 +116,9 @@
                 "currency": true
             },
             "attributes": [],
-            "data": []
+            "data": {
+                "maxlength": null
+            }
         },
         {
             "name": "SecurityID",