diff --git a/createsend/utils.py b/createsend/utils.py
index 5207675..43861d2 100644
--- a/createsend/utils.py
+++ b/createsend/utils.py
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ class VerifiedHTTPSConnection(HTTPSConnection):
 ***REMOVED******REMOVED******REMOVED***raise
 
 def json_to_py(j):
-***REMOVED***o = json.loads(j.decode())
+***REMOVED***o = json.loads(j.decode('utf-8'))
 ***REMOVED***if isinstance(o, dict):
 ***REMOVED***	return dict_to_object(o)
 ***REMOVED***else:
diff --git a/test/fixtures/custom_fields_utf8.json b/test/fixtures/custom_fields_utf8.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b07aa79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/custom_fields_utf8.json
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[
+***REMOVED***{
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***"FieldName": "salary_range",
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***"Key": "[]",
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***"DataType": "MultiSelectOne",
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***"FieldOptions": ["£0-20k", "£20-30k", "£30k+"],
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***"VisibleInPreferenceCenter": true
+***REMOVED***},
+***REMOVED***{
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***"FieldName": "age",
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***"Key": "[age]",
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***"DataType": "Number",
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***"FieldOptions": [],
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***"VisibleInPreferenceCenter": true
+***REMOVED***}
+]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/test_list.py b/test/test_list.py
index 974b4af..d67a3d2 100644
--- a/test/test_list.py
+++ b/test/test_list.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
 from six.moves.urllib.parse import quote
 import unittest
 
@@ -88,6 +90,14 @@ class ListTestCase(object):
 ***REMOVED******REMOVED***self.assertEquals(cfs[0].DataType, "Text")
 ***REMOVED******REMOVED***self.assertEquals(cfs[0].FieldOptions, [])
 ***REMOVED******REMOVED***self.assertEquals(cfs[0].VisibleInPreferenceCenter, True)
+***REMOVED***
+***REMOVED***def test_custom_fields_utf8(self):
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***self.list.stub_request("lists/%s/customfields.json" % self.list.list_id, "custom_fields_utf8.json")
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***cfs = self.list.custom_fields()
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***self.assertEquals(len(cfs), 2)
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***self.assertEquals(cfs[0].FieldName, "salary_range")
+***REMOVED******REMOVED***self.assertEquals(cfs[0].FieldOptions, [u"£0-20k", u"£20-30k", u"£30k+"])
+
 
 ***REMOVED***def test_segments(self):
 ***REMOVED******REMOVED***self.list.stub_request("lists/%s/segments.json" % self.list.list_id, "segments.json")