diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index aa815cca39..19ce90b973 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
   Thanks to Gustavo Teixeira (@gsteixei) for the find.
 - Import errors during initialization are only ignored
   if they are cause by a missing local.py.
+- Make sure the local.py created used unicode for strings
+  by default. GitLab issue #424. Thanks to Gustavo Teixeira
+  (@gsteixei) for the find.
 
 2.7 (2017-08-30)
 ================
diff --git a/mayan/apps/common/management/commands/literals.py b/mayan/apps/common/management/commands/literals.py
index 9911e5510f..7b3864fbac 100644
--- a/mayan/apps/common/management/commands/literals.py
+++ b/mayan/apps/common/management/commands/literals.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
 SETTING_FILE_TEMPLATE = '''
-from __future__ import absolute_import
+from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
 
 from .base import *