diff --git a/src/alignment/model_utils.py b/src/alignment/model_utils.py
index ab2025f..abb930c 100644
--- a/src/alignment/model_utils.py
+++ b/src/alignment/model_utils.py
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ def get_tokenizer(model_args: ModelArguments, data_args: DataArguments) -> PreTr
 
     if data_args.chat_template is not None:
         tokenizer.chat_template = data_args.chat_template
-    elif tokenizer.chat_template is None:
+    elif tokenizer.chat_template is None and tokenizer.default_chat_template is None:
         tokenizer.chat_template = DEFAULT_CHAT_TEMPLATE
 
     return tokenizer
diff --git a/tests/test_model_utils.py b/tests/test_model_utils.py
index d20afec..688b3bd 100644
--- a/tests/test_model_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_model_utils.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 import unittest
 
 import torch
+from transformers import AutoTokenizer
 
 from alignment import DataArguments, ModelArguments, get_peft_config, get_quantization_config, get_tokenizer
 from alignment.data import DEFAULT_CHAT_TEMPLATE
@@ -56,6 +57,19 @@ class GetTokenizerTest(unittest.TestCase):
         tokenizer = get_tokenizer(self.model_args, DataArguments())
         self.assertEqual(tokenizer.chat_template, DEFAULT_CHAT_TEMPLATE)
 
+    def test_default_chat_template_no_overwrite(self):
+        """
+        If no chat template is passed explicitly in the config, then for models with a
+        `default_chat_template` but no `chat_template` we do not set a `chat_template`,
+        and that we do not change `default_chat_template`
+        """
+        model_args = ModelArguments(model_name_or_path="codellama/CodeLlama-7b-Instruct-hf")
+        base_tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained("codellama/CodeLlama-7b-Instruct-hf")
+        processed_tokenizer = get_tokenizer(model_args, DataArguments())
+
+        assert getattr(processed_tokenizer, "chat_template") is None
+        self.assertEqual(base_tokenizer.default_chat_template, processed_tokenizer.default_chat_template)
+
     def test_chatml_chat_template(self):
         chat_template = "{% if not add_generation_prompt is defined %}{% set add_generation_prompt = false %}{% endif %}{% for message in messages %}{{'<|im_start|>' + message['role'] + '\n' + message['content'] + '<|im_end|>' + '\n'}}{% endfor %}{% if add_generation_prompt %}{{ '<|im_start|>assistant\n' }}{% endif %}"
         tokenizer = get_tokenizer(self.model_args, DataArguments(chat_template=chat_template))