In this contribution, we study a stability notion for a fundamental linear one-dimensional lattice Boltzmann scheme, this notion being related to the maximum principle. We seek to characterize the parameters of the scheme that guarantee the preservation of the non-negativity of the particle distribution functions. In the context of the relative velocity schemes, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the non-negativity preserving property. These conditions are then expressed in a simple way when the relative velocity is reduced to zero. For the general case, we propose some simple necessary conditions on the relaxation parameters and we put in evidence numerically the non-negativity preserving regions. Numerical experiments show finally that no oscillations occur for the propagation of a non-smooth profile if the non-negativity preserving property is satisfied.