diff --git a/roomserver/internal/query/query.go b/roomserver/internal/query/query.go
index 6b4cb581..b9eac339 100644
--- a/roomserver/internal/query/query.go
+++ b/roomserver/internal/query/query.go
@@ -149,8 +149,14 @@ func (r *Queryer) QueryMissingAuthPrevEvents(
 	}
 
 	for _, prevEventID := range request.PrevEventIDs {
-		if state, err := r.DB.StateAtEventIDs(ctx, []string{prevEventID}); err != nil || len(state) == 0 {
+		if eventTypes, err := r.DB.EventTypeNIDs(ctx, []string{prevEventID}); err != nil || len(eventTypes) == 0 {
 			response.MissingPrevEventIDs = append(response.MissingPrevEventIDs, prevEventID)
+		} else if eventTypes[prevEventID] != types.MRoomCreateNID {
+			// We only want to check for missing state for events that aren't create
+			// events, because there is no state before a create event
+			if state, err := r.DB.StateAtEventIDs(ctx, []string{prevEventID}); err != nil || len(state) == 0 {
+				response.MissingPrevEventIDs = append(response.MissingPrevEventIDs, prevEventID)
+			}
 		}
 	}