diff --git a/src/djlint/formatter/expand.py b/src/djlint/formatter/expand.py
index 85470f9..bd2afad 100644
--- a/src/djlint/formatter/expand.py
+++ b/src/djlint/formatter/expand.py
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ def expand_html(html: str, config: Config) -> str:
         if inside_ignored_block(config, html, match):
             return match.group(1)
 
+        if out_format == "\n%s" and match.start() == 0:
+            return match.group(1)
+
         return out_format % match.group(1)
 
     html_tags = config.break_html_tags
@@ -45,7 +48,7 @@ def expand_html(html: str, config: Config) -> str:
     # html tags - break after
     html = re.sub(
         re.compile(
-            rf"(</?(?:{html_tags})\b(\"[^\"]*\"|'[^']*'|{{[^}}]*}}|[^'\">{{}}])*>)(?=[^\n])",
+            rf"(</?(?:{html_tags})\b(\"[^\"]*\"|'[^']*'|{{[^}}]*}}|[^'\">{{}}])*>)(?!\s*?\n)(?=[^\n])",
             flags=re.IGNORECASE | re.VERBOSE,
         ),
         add_right,
@@ -54,7 +57,7 @@ def expand_html(html: str, config: Config) -> str:
 
     # template tag breaks
     def should_i_move_template_tag(out_format: str, match: re.Match) -> str:
-        # ensure template tag is not inside an html tag
+        # ensure template tag is not inside an html tag and also not the first line of the file
 
         if inside_ignored_block(config, html, match):
             return match.group(1)
@@ -68,13 +71,14 @@ def expand_html(html: str, config: Config) -> str:
             html[: match.end()],
             re.MULTILINE | re.VERBOSE,
         ):
+            if out_format == "\n%s" and match.start() == 0:
+                return match.group(1)
             return out_format % match.group(1)
 
         return match.group(1)
 
     # template tags
     # break before
-
     html = re.sub(
         re.compile(
             break_char
diff --git a/tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/html_one.html b/tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/html_one.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c5ac12b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/html_one.html
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{% block someblock %}{% endblock %}
+<br/>
+<br/>
diff --git a/tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/html_two.html b/tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/html_two.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e54a273
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/html_two.html
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<div>
diff --git a/tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/test_config.py b/tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/test_config.py
index 2381d69..0f812c6 100644
--- a/tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/test_config.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ run::
    pytest tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/test_config.py --cov=src/djlint --cov-branch \
           --cov-report xml:coverage.xml --cov-report term-missing
 
-   pytest tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/test_config.py::test_config
+   pytest tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/test_config.py::test_whitespace
 
 """
 # pylint: disable=C0116
@@ -27,3 +27,29 @@ def test_config(runner: CliRunner) -> None:
     )
 
     assert result.exit_code == 0
+
+
+def test_whitespace(runner: CliRunner) -> None:
+    # blank line should not be added before template tags
+    result = runner.invoke(
+        djlint,
+        [
+            "tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/html_one.html",
+            "--check",
+            "--preserve-blank-lines",
+        ],
+    )
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+
+    # blank line should not be added before html tags
+    result = runner.invoke(
+        djlint,
+        [
+            "tests/test_config/test_preserve_blank_lines/html_two.html",
+            "--check",
+            "--preserve-blank-lines",
+        ],
+    )
+    print(result.output)
+    assert result.exit_code == 0