diff --git a/src/main/java/ninja/javafx/smartcsv/fx/table/model/CSVModel.java b/src/main/java/ninja/javafx/smartcsv/fx/table/model/CSVModel.java
index f09a62b..7356d83 100644
--- a/src/main/java/ninja/javafx/smartcsv/fx/table/model/CSVModel.java
+++ b/src/main/java/ninja/javafx/smartcsv/fx/table/model/CSVModel.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 
 package ninja.javafx.smartcsv.fx.table.model;
 
+import javafx.beans.property.ObjectProperty;
 import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
 import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
 import javafx.concurrent.Service;
@@ -38,6 +39,8 @@ import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Set;
 
 /**
  * The CSVModel is the client representation for the csv filepath.
@@ -168,11 +171,16 @@ public class CSVModel {
                             }
                         }
 
-                        for (int lineNumber = 0; lineNumber < rows.size(); lineNumber++) {
+                        int maxRows = rows.size();
+                        for (int lineNumber = 0; lineNumber < maxRows; lineNumber++) {
                             CSVRow row = rows.get(lineNumber);
                             row.setValidator(validator);
-                            for (String column : row.getColumns().keySet()) {
-                                CSVValue value = row.getColumns().get(column).getValue();
+
+                            Map<String, ObjectProperty<CSVValue>> table = row.getColumns();
+                            Set<String> columns = table.keySet();
+
+                            for (String column : columns) {
+                                CSVValue value = table.get(column).getValue();
                                 value.setValidator(validator);
                                 if (validator != null) {
                                     ValidationError validationError = validator.isValid(column, value.getValue(), lineNumber);
@@ -188,6 +196,7 @@ public class CSVModel {
                                 }
                             }
                         }
+
                     } catch (Throwable t) {
                         logger.error("validation error", t);
                     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/ninja/javafx/smartcsv/validation/ValidationConfiguration.java b/src/main/java/ninja/javafx/smartcsv/validation/ValidationConfiguration.java
index 3bbf172..848c42c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/ninja/javafx/smartcsv/validation/ValidationConfiguration.java
+++ b/src/main/java/ninja/javafx/smartcsv/validation/ValidationConfiguration.java
@@ -73,32 +73,27 @@ public class ValidationConfiguration {
     }
 
     public Integer getMaxLengthRuleFor(String column) {
-        if (noRulesFor(column)) return null;
-        return doubleToInteger((Double)getValue(column, "maxlength"));
+        Double value = (Double)getValue(column, "maxlength");
+        return value != null ? doubleToInteger(value) : null;
     }
 
     public String getDateRuleFor(String column) {
-        if (noRulesFor(column)) return null;
         return (String)getValue(column, "date");
     }
 
     public Boolean getAlphanumericRuleFor(String column) {
-        if (noRulesFor(column)) return null;
         return (Boolean)getValue(column, "alphanumeric");
     }
 
     public String getRegexpRuleFor(String column) {
-        if (noRulesFor(column)) return null;
         return (String)getValue(column, "regexp");
     }
 
     public List<String> getValueOfRuleFor(String column) {
-        if (noRulesFor(column)) return null;
         return (List<String>)getValue(column, "value of");
     }
 
     public String getGroovyRuleFor(String column) {
-        if (noRulesFor(column)) return null;
         return (String)getValue(column, "groovy");
     }
 
@@ -160,18 +155,19 @@ public class ValidationConfiguration {
     }
 
     private Object getValue(String column, String key) {
-        if (noRulesFor(column)) return null;
-        return columnConfigurations.get(column).get(key);
+        if (columnConfigurations != null) {
+            Map rulesForColumn = columnConfigurations.get(column);
+            if (rulesForColumn != null) {
+                return columnConfigurations.get(column).get(key);
+            }
+        }
+        return null;
     }
 
     private boolean noHeader() {
         return headerConfiguration == null;
     }
 
-    private boolean noRulesFor(String column) {
-        return columnConfigurations == null || columnConfigurations.get(column) == null;
-    }
-
     private Integer doubleToInteger(Double value) {
         if (value == null) return null;
         return (int)Math.round(value);
diff --git a/src/main/java/ninja/javafx/smartcsv/validation/Validator.java b/src/main/java/ninja/javafx/smartcsv/validation/Validator.java
index 2f6d999..0c4c820 100644
--- a/src/main/java/ninja/javafx/smartcsv/validation/Validator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/ninja/javafx/smartcsv/validation/Validator.java
@@ -111,7 +111,8 @@ public class Validator {
     ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
     private void checkUniqueness(String column, String value, Integer lineNumber, ValidationError error) {
-        if (validationConfig.getUniqueRuleFor(column) != null && validationConfig.getUniqueRuleFor(column)) {
+        Boolean uniqueRule = validationConfig.getUniqueRuleFor(column);
+        if (uniqueRule != null && uniqueRule) {
             HashMap<String, Integer> columnValueMap = uniquenessLookupTable.get(column);
             columnValueMap = getColumnValueMap(column, columnValueMap);
             Integer valueInLineNumber = columnValueMap.get(value);
@@ -180,7 +181,8 @@ public class Validator {
     }
 
     private void checkBlankOrNull(String column, String value, ValidationError error) {
-        if (validationConfig.getNotEmptyRuleFor(column) != null && validationConfig.getNotEmptyRuleFor(column)) {
+        Boolean notEmptyRule = validationConfig.getNotEmptyRuleFor(column);
+        if (notEmptyRule != null && notEmptyRule) {
             if (isBlankOrNull(value)) {
                 error.add("validation.message.not.empty");
             }
@@ -188,7 +190,8 @@ public class Validator {
     }
 
     private void checkInteger(String column, String value, ValidationError error) {
-        if (validationConfig.getIntegerRuleFor(column) != null && validationConfig.getIntegerRuleFor(column)) {
+        Boolean integerRule = validationConfig.getIntegerRuleFor(column);
+        if (integerRule != null && integerRule) {
             if (!isInt(value)) {
                 error.add("validation.message.integer");
             }
@@ -196,7 +199,8 @@ public class Validator {
     }
 
     private void checkDouble(String column, String value, ValidationError error) {
-        if (validationConfig.getDoubleRuleFor(column) != null && validationConfig.getDoubleRuleFor(column)) {
+        Boolean doubleRule = validationConfig.getDoubleRuleFor(column);
+        if (doubleRule != null && doubleRule) {
             if (!isDouble(value)) {
                 error.add("validation.message.double");
             }
@@ -231,7 +235,8 @@ public class Validator {
     }
 
     private void checkAlphaNumeric(String column, String value, ValidationError error) {
-        if (validationConfig.getAlphanumericRuleFor(column) != null && validationConfig.getAlphanumericRuleFor(column)) {
+        Boolean alphaNumericRule = validationConfig.getAlphanumericRuleFor(column);
+        if (alphaNumericRule != null && alphaNumericRule) {
             if (!matchRegexp(value, "[0-9a-zA-Z]*")) {
                 error.add("validation.message.alphanumeric");
             }