I am trying to add-on to one of my existing triggers and am running into the following error:

Error:Apex trigger triggerSendLayoutTask caused an unexpected exception, contact your administrator: triggerSendLayoutTask: execution of AfterUpdate caused by: System.NullPointerException: Attempt to de-reference a null object: Trigger.triggerSendLayoutTask: line 20, column 46

Here is the code I am editing:

    List<Custom_Layout_Object__c> gen = [Select id, ready_to_submit_task__c from Custom_Layout_Object__c limit 1];
    Set<Id> gen0 = new Set<Id>();
        Map<Id, user> userMap1 = new Map<Id, user>([select id, Region__c from user where id = :UserInfo.getUserId() and isActive = true]);
       for(Custom_Layout_Object__c l2: trigger.new ){
            if (userMap1.get(l2.createdById).Region__c == 'Europe' && l2.ready_to_submit_task__c == 'Items are Attached'){
           User[] userid = [Select id from User where Name = 'Jasper Schoemaker' ];
               Task ta = new Task(whatID =trigger.new[0].Opportunity__c,ActivityDate=trigger.new[0].Requested_Date_To_Complete_Layout__c,
               subject='Lay-out Requested', ownerid=userid[0].id);
       Database.DMLOptions dmlo = new Database.DMLOptions();
         dmlo.EmailHeader.triggerUserEmail = true;
         database.insert(ta, dmlo);
       Tasks.add(ta);}

The line I have edited is:

            if (userMap1.get(l2.createdById).Region__c == 'Europe' && l2.ready_to_submit_task__c == 'Items are Attached'){

I know I need to declare the new field "l2.ready_to_submit_task__c, but am not remembering exactly how in this situation.

 How do I do this?

Thank you

2.ready_to_submit_task__c