diff --git a/rest_framework/fields.py b/rest_framework/fields.py
index c28a9695a..8a6b36b54 100644
--- a/rest_framework/fields.py
+++ b/rest_framework/fields.py
@@ -582,6 +582,9 @@ class HyperlinkedRelatedField(RelatedField):
         if self.queryset is None:
             raise Exception('Writable related fields must include a `queryset` argument')
 
+        if value is None:
+            return None
+
         if value.startswith('http:') or value.startswith('https:'):
             # If needed convert absolute URLs to relative path
             value = urlparse(value).path
diff --git a/rest_framework/tests/hyperlinkedserializers.py b/rest_framework/tests/hyperlinkedserializers.py
index d7effce70..df894fcc2 100644
--- a/rest_framework/tests/hyperlinkedserializers.py
+++ b/rest_framework/tests/hyperlinkedserializers.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from django.test import TestCase
 from django.test.client import RequestFactory
 from rest_framework import generics, status, serializers
 from rest_framework.tests.models import Anchor, BasicModel, ManyToManyModel, BlogPost, BlogPostComment, Album, Photo, OptionalRelationModel
+import json
 
 factory = RequestFactory()
 
@@ -71,7 +72,7 @@ class AlbumDetail(generics.RetrieveAPIView):
     model = Album
 
 
-class OptionalRelationDetail(generics.RetrieveAPIView):
+class OptionalRelationDetail(generics.RetrieveUpdateDestroyAPIView):
     model = OptionalRelationModel
     model_serializer_class = serializers.HyperlinkedModelSerializer
 
@@ -247,3 +248,12 @@ class TestOptionalRelationHyperlinkedView(TestCase):
         response = self.detail_view(request, pk=1).render()
         self.assertEquals(response.status_code, status.HTTP_200_OK)
         self.assertEquals(response.data, self.data)
+
+    def test_put_detail_view(self):
+        """
+        PUT requests to RetrieveUpdateDestroyAPIView with optional relations
+        should accept None for non existing relations.
+        """
+        # Using the factory, the None incorrectly becomes u'None'. Use the normal test client instead
+        response = self.client.put('/optionalrelation/1/', data=json.dumps(self.data), content_type='application/json')
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_200_OK)