diff --git a/roomserver/storage/postgres/storage.go b/roomserver/storage/postgres/storage.go
index 4499388a0..6f8fd9f66 100644
--- a/roomserver/storage/postgres/storage.go
+++ b/roomserver/storage/postgres/storage.go
@@ -72,7 +72,9 @@ func (d *Database) StoreEvent(
 		}
 	}
 
-	roomVersion := strconv.Itoa(int(version.GetDefaultRoomVersion()))
+	// The only room version where the "room_version" key isn't specified is
+	// room version 1
+	roomVersion := 1
 	// The below works because the first event to be persisted to the database
 	// is always the m.room.create event. We can therefore set the room version
 	// correctly at the same time as assigning the room NID.
diff --git a/roomserver/storage/sqlite3/storage.go b/roomserver/storage/sqlite3/storage.go
index b3f375887..e70a1b9ec 100644
--- a/roomserver/storage/sqlite3/storage.go
+++ b/roomserver/storage/sqlite3/storage.go
@@ -93,7 +93,9 @@ func (d *Database) StoreEvent(
 			}
 		}
 
-		roomVersion := strconv.Itoa(int(version.GetDefaultRoomVersion()))
+		// The only room version where the "room_version" key isn't specified is
+		// room version 1
+		roomVersion := 1
 		// The below works because the first event to be persisted to the database
 		// is always the m.room.create event. We can therefore set the room version
 		// correctly at the same time as assigning the room NID.