diff --git a/src/stores/RightPanelStore.ts b/src/stores/RightPanelStore.ts
index 2bad0572b1..03f12832fd 100644
--- a/src/stores/RightPanelStore.ts
+++ b/src/stores/RightPanelStore.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import {RightPanelPhases, RIGHT_PANEL_PHASES_NO_ARGS} from "./RightPanelStorePha
 import {ActionPayload} from "../dispatcher/payloads";
 import {Action} from '../dispatcher/actions';
 import { SettingLevel } from "../settings/SettingLevel";
+import RoomViewStore from './RoomViewStore';
 
 interface RightPanelStoreState {
     // Whether or not to show the right panel at all. We split out rooms and groups
@@ -147,6 +148,8 @@ export default class RightPanelStore extends Store<ActionPayload> {
         switch (payload.action) {
             case 'view_room':
             case 'view_group':
+                if (payload.room_id === RoomViewStore.getRoomId()) break; // skip this transition, probably a permalink
+
                 // Reset to the member list if we're viewing member info
                 if (MEMBER_INFO_PHASES.includes(this.state.lastRoomPhase)) {
                     this.setState({lastRoomPhase: RightPanelPhases.RoomMemberList, lastRoomPhaseParams: {}});
diff --git a/test/end-to-end-tests/src/usecases/rightpanel.js b/test/end-to-end-tests/src/usecases/rightpanel.js
index ae6bb2c771..00a8cde5a6 100644
--- a/test/end-to-end-tests/src/usecases/rightpanel.js
+++ b/test/end-to-end-tests/src/usecases/rightpanel.js
@@ -32,7 +32,11 @@ module.exports.goBackToRoomSummaryCard = async function(session) {
             // Sometimes our tests have this opened to MemberInfo
             await backButton.click();
         } catch (e) {
-            break; // stop trying to go further back
+            // explicitly check for TimeoutError as this sometimes returned
+            // `Error: Node is detached from document` due to a re-render race or similar
+            if (e.name === "TimeoutError") {
+                break; // stop trying to go further back
+            }
         }
     }
 };