diff --git a/pywinauto/handleprops.py b/pywinauto/handleprops.py
index b0d43a2..79ffb36 100644
--- a/pywinauto/handleprops.py
+++ b/pywinauto/handleprops.py
@@ -52,7 +52,9 @@ def text(handle):
     length = length.value
 
     textval = ''
-    if length:
+    # In some rare cases, the length returned by WM_GETTEXTLENGTH is <0.
+    # Guard against this by checking it is >0 (==0 is not of interest):
+    if length > 0:
         length += 1
 
         buffer_ = ctypes.create_unicode_buffer(length)