diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 87b4dbc6..81243f4e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ and this project adheres to
 - When signing in a new account, correctly position it after the other
   existing ones without needing a restart
 
+- Correctly handle room topics containing new lines, hard tabs or text inside
+  `<>` brackets 
+
 ## 0.5.0
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/src/backend/matrix_client.py b/src/backend/matrix_client.py
index d9c3926d..b585bcf1 100644
--- a/src/backend/matrix_client.py
+++ b/src/backend/matrix_client.py
@@ -1276,7 +1276,9 @@ class MatrixClient(nio.AsyncClient):
             avatar_url     = room.gen_avatar_url or "",
             plain_topic    = room.topic or "",
             topic          = HTML.filter(
-                room.topic or "", inline=True, room_id=room.room_id,
+                utils.plain2html(room.topic or ""),
+                inline  = True,
+                room_id = room.room_id,
             ),
             inviter_id     = inviter,
             inviter_name   = room.user_name(inviter) if inviter else "",
diff --git a/src/backend/nio_callbacks.py b/src/backend/nio_callbacks.py
index 83ebd2a6..e7fbbb3c 100644
--- a/src/backend/nio_callbacks.py
+++ b/src/backend/nio_callbacks.py
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ class NioCallbacks:
     ) -> None:
         if ev.topic:
             topic = HTML_PROCESSOR.filter(
-                ev.topic, inline=True, room_id=room.room_id,
+                plain2html(ev.topic), inline=True, room_id=room.room_id,
             )
             co = f"%1 changed the room's topic to \"{topic}\""
         else: