diff --git a/readthedocs/rtd_tests/tests/test_backend.py b/readthedocs/rtd_tests/tests/test_backend.py
index 976ff5685ee..724c2d56b29 100644
--- a/readthedocs/rtd_tests/tests/test_backend.py
+++ b/readthedocs/rtd_tests/tests/test_backend.py
@@ -78,6 +78,16 @@ def test_parse_git_tags(self):
                      self.project.vcs_repo().parse_tags(data)]
         self.assertEqual(expected_tags, given_ids)
 
+    def test_check_for_submodules(self):
+        repo = self.project.vcs_repo()
+
+        repo.checkout()
+        self.assertFalse(repo.submodules_exists())
+
+        # The submodule branch contains one submodule
+        repo.checkout('submodule')
+        self.assertTrue(repo.submodules_exists())
+
 
 class TestHgBackend(RTDTestCase):
     def setUp(self):
diff --git a/readthedocs/rtd_tests/utils.py b/readthedocs/rtd_tests/utils.py
index 5d4fc616f31..9223837eccb 100644
--- a/readthedocs/rtd_tests/utils.py
+++ b/readthedocs/rtd_tests/utils.py
@@ -34,6 +34,13 @@ def make_test_git():
     log.info(check_output(['git', 'init'] + [directory], env=env))
     log.info(check_output(['git', 'add', '.'], env=env))
     log.info(check_output(['git', 'commit', '-m"init"'], env=env))
+    # Add repo itself as submodule
+    log.info(check_output(['git', 'checkout', '-b', 'submodule'], env=env))
+    log.info(check_output(['git', 'submodule', 'add', '-b', 'master', './', 'submodule'], env=env))
+    log.info(check_output(['git', 'add', '.'], env=env))
+    log.info(check_output(['git', 'commit', '-m"Add submodule"'], env=env))
+    # Checkout to master branch again
+    log.info(check_output(['git', 'checkout', 'master'], env=env))
     chdir(path)
     return directory
 
diff --git a/readthedocs/vcs_support/backends/git.py b/readthedocs/vcs_support/backends/git.py
index d2e623de1c6..77673907ec5 100644
--- a/readthedocs/vcs_support/backends/git.py
+++ b/readthedocs/vcs_support/backends/git.py
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ def repo_exists(self):
         code, _, _ = self.run('git', 'status', record=False)
         return code == 0
 
+    def submodules_exists(self):
+        code, out, _ = self.run('git', 'submodule', 'status', record=False)
+        return code == 0 and bool(out)
+
     def fetch(self):
         code, _, _ = self.run('git', 'fetch', '--tags', '--prune')
         if code != 0:
@@ -187,9 +191,10 @@ def checkout(self, identifier=None):
         self.run('git', 'clean', '-d', '-f', '-f')
 
         # Update submodules
-        self.run('git', 'submodule', 'sync')
-        self.run('git', 'submodule', 'update',
-                 '--init', '--recursive', '--force')
+        if self.submodules_exists():
+            self.run('git', 'submodule', 'sync')
+            self.run('git', 'submodule', 'update',
+                     '--init', '--recursive', '--force')
 
         return code, out, err