diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/BaseMetastoreTableOperations.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/BaseMetastoreTableOperations.java
index 0d4432e860c8..3b8295aa7e9a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/BaseMetastoreTableOperations.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/BaseMetastoreTableOperations.java
@@ -148,8 +148,8 @@ protected void refreshFromMetadataLocation(String newLocation, Predicate<Excepti
               TableMetadataParser.read(io(), metadataLocation)));
 
       String newUUID = newMetadata.get().uuid();
-      if (currentMetadata != null) {
-        Preconditions.checkState(newUUID == null || newUUID.equals(currentMetadata.uuid()),
+      if (currentMetadata != null && currentMetadata.uuid() != null && newUUID != null) {
+        Preconditions.checkState(newUUID.equals(currentMetadata.uuid()),
             "Table UUID does not match: current=%s != refreshed=%s", currentMetadata.uuid(), newUUID);
       }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hadoop/HadoopTableOperations.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hadoop/HadoopTableOperations.java
index 2657be41cb5d..c02e7a2b2e5a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hadoop/HadoopTableOperations.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hadoop/HadoopTableOperations.java
@@ -96,14 +96,7 @@ public TableMetadata refresh() {
       if (version == null || version != ver) {
         this.version = ver;
 
-        TableMetadata newMetadata = TableMetadataParser.read(io(), metadataFile.toString());
-        String newUUID = newMetadata.uuid();
-        if (currentMetadata != null) {
-          Preconditions.checkState(newUUID == null || newUUID.equals(currentMetadata.uuid()),
-              "Table UUID does not match: current=%s != refreshed=%s", currentMetadata.uuid(), newUUID);
-        }
-
-        this.currentMetadata = newMetadata;
+        this.currentMetadata = checkUUID(currentMetadata, TableMetadataParser.read(io(), metadataFile.toString()));
       }
 
       this.shouldRefresh = false;
@@ -321,4 +314,13 @@ private void deleteRemovedMetadataFiles(TableMetadata base, TableMetadata metada
           .run(previousMetadataFile -> io().deleteFile(previousMetadataFile.file()));
     }
   }
+
+  private static TableMetadata checkUUID(TableMetadata currentMetadata, TableMetadata newMetadata) {
+    String newUUID = newMetadata.uuid();
+    if (currentMetadata != null && currentMetadata.uuid() != null && newUUID != null) {
+      Preconditions.checkState(newUUID.equals(currentMetadata.uuid()),
+          "Table UUID does not match: current=%s != refreshed=%s", currentMetadata.uuid(), newUUID);
+    }
+    return newMetadata;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/util/JsonUtil.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/util/JsonUtil.java
index 976a1cc3933c..9d46584687dc 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/util/JsonUtil.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/util/JsonUtil.java
@@ -91,7 +91,10 @@ public static String getStringOrNull(String property, JsonNode node) {
       return null;
     }
     JsonNode pNode = node.get(property);
-    Preconditions.checkArgument(pNode != null && !pNode.isNull() && pNode.isTextual(),
+    if (pNode != null && pNode.isNull()) {
+      return null;
+    }
+    Preconditions.checkArgument(pNode != null && pNode.isTextual(),
         "Cannot parse %s from non-string value: %s", property, pNode);
     return pNode.asText();
   }