diff --git a/doc/src/extensions.rst b/doc/src/extensions.rst
index 5561ea4c..970d4b98 100644
--- a/doc/src/extensions.rst
+++ b/doc/src/extensions.rst
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ functionalities defined by the |DBAPI|_.
         Close the object and remove it from the database.
 
 
-.. autoclass:: Notify(pid, channel, payload=None)
+.. autoclass:: Notify(pid, channel, payload='')
     :members: pid, channel, payload
 
     .. versionadded:: 2.2.3
diff --git a/psycopg/notify_type.c b/psycopg/notify_type.c
index 2e3a1e1e..a104f21a 100644
--- a/psycopg/notify_type.c
+++ b/psycopg/notify_type.c
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ notify_init(NotifyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwargs)
     }
 
     if (!payload) {
-        payload = Py_None;
+        payload = PyString_FromStringAndSize("", 0);
     }
 
     Py_CLEAR(self->pid);
diff --git a/tests/test_notify.py b/tests/test_notify.py
index 957b3713..7dc45d9d 100755
--- a/tests/test_notify.py
+++ b/tests/test_notify.py
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ conn.close()
         n = psycopg2.extensions.Notify(10, 'foo')
         self.assertEqual(10, n.pid)
         self.assertEqual('foo', n.channel)
-        self.assertEqual(None, n.payload)
+        self.assertEqual('', n.payload)
         (pid, channel) = n
         self.assertEqual((pid, channel), (10, 'foo'))