diff --git a/app/models/virtual_community.rb b/app/models/virtual_community.rb
index a9b0d6b..327f802 100644
--- a/app/models/virtual_community.rb
+++ b/app/models/virtual_community.rb
@@ -38,7 +38,11 @@ class VirtualCommunity < ActiveRecord::Base
     self.settings["#{feature}_enabled"] == true
   end
 
+  # enables the features identified by <tt>features</tt>, which is expected to
+  # be an Enumarable object containing the identifiers of the desired features.
+  # Passing <tt>nil</tt> is the same as passing an empty Array.
   def enabled_features=(features)
+    features ||= []
     self.class.available_features.keys.each do |feature|
       if features.include? feature
         self.enable(feature)
diff --git a/test/unit/virtual_community_test.rb b/test/unit/virtual_community_test.rb
index 6a57ad1..4a84716 100644
--- a/test/unit/virtual_community_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/virtual_community_test.rb
@@ -44,6 +44,12 @@ class VirtualCommunityTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert v.enabled?('feature1') && v.enabled?('feature2') && !v.enabled?('feature3')
   end
 
+  def test_enabled_features_no_features_enabled
+    v = virtual_communities(:colivre_net)
+    v.enabled_features = nil
+    assert !v.enabled?('feature1') && !v.enabled?('feature2') && !v.enabled?('feature3')
+  end
+
   def test_name_is_mandatory
     v = VirtualCommunity.new
     v.valid?
--
libgit2 0.21.2