diff --git a/federationapi/routing/send.go b/federationapi/routing/send.go
index 963d31713..a3011b500 100644
--- a/federationapi/routing/send.go
+++ b/federationapi/routing/send.go
@@ -109,8 +109,7 @@ type txnReq struct {
 	federation txnFederationClient
 	// local cache of events for auth checks, etc - this may include events
 	// which the roomserver is unaware of.
-	haveEvents      map[string]*gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent
-	haveEventsMutex sync.RWMutex
+	haveEvents map[string]*gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent
 	// new events which the roomserver does not know about
 	newEvents      map[string]bool
 	newEventsMutex sync.RWMutex
@@ -266,9 +265,7 @@ func (e missingPrevEventsError) Error() string {
 }
 
 func (t *txnReq) haveEventIDs() map[string]bool {
-	t.haveEventsMutex.RLock()
 	t.newEventsMutex.RLock()
-	defer t.haveEventsMutex.RUnlock()
 	defer t.newEventsMutex.RUnlock()
 	result := make(map[string]bool, len(t.haveEvents))
 	for eventID := range t.haveEvents {
@@ -710,9 +707,7 @@ func (t *txnReq) lookupStateAfterEvent(ctx context.Context, roomVersion gomatrix
 	default:
 		return nil, false, fmt.Errorf("t.lookupEvent: %w", err)
 	}
-	t.haveEventsMutex.Lock()
 	t.haveEvents[h.EventID()] = h
-	t.haveEventsMutex.Unlock()
 	if h.StateKey() != nil {
 		addedToState := false
 		for i := range respState.StateEvents {
@@ -741,7 +736,6 @@ func (t *txnReq) lookupStateAfterEventLocally(ctx context.Context, roomID, event
 		util.GetLogger(ctx).WithError(err).Warnf("failed to query state after %s locally", eventID)
 		return nil
 	}
-	t.haveEventsMutex.RLock()
 	for i, ev := range res.StateEvents {
 		t.haveEvents[ev.EventID()] = res.StateEvents[i]
 	}
@@ -757,7 +751,6 @@ func (t *txnReq) lookupStateAfterEventLocally(ctx context.Context, roomID, event
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	t.haveEventsMutex.RUnlock()
 	// QueryStateAfterEvents does not return the auth events, so fetch them now. We know the roomserver has them else it wouldn't
 	// have stored the event.
 	var missingEventList []string
@@ -772,13 +765,11 @@ func (t *txnReq) lookupStateAfterEventLocally(ctx context.Context, roomID, event
 	if err = t.rsAPI.QueryEventsByID(ctx, &queryReq, &queryRes); err != nil {
 		return nil
 	}
-	t.haveEventsMutex.Lock()
 	for i := range queryRes.Events {
 		evID := queryRes.Events[i].EventID()
 		t.haveEvents[evID] = queryRes.Events[i]
 		authEvents = append(authEvents, queryRes.Events[i].Unwrap())
 	}
-	t.haveEventsMutex.Unlock()
 
 	evs := gomatrixserverlib.UnwrapEventHeaders(res.StateEvents)
 	return &gomatrixserverlib.RespState{
@@ -972,7 +963,6 @@ func (t *txnReq) lookupMissingStateViaStateIDs(ctx context.Context, roomID, even
 	wantIDs := append(stateIDs.StateEventIDs, stateIDs.AuthEventIDs...)
 	missing := make(map[string]bool)
 	var missingEventList []string
-	t.haveEventsMutex.RLock()
 	for _, sid := range wantIDs {
 		if _, ok := t.haveEvents[sid]; !ok {
 			if !missing[sid] {
@@ -981,7 +971,6 @@ func (t *txnReq) lookupMissingStateViaStateIDs(ctx context.Context, roomID, even
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	t.haveEventsMutex.RUnlock()
 
 	// fetch as many as we can from the roomserver
 	queryReq := api.QueryEventsByIDRequest{
@@ -991,7 +980,6 @@ func (t *txnReq) lookupMissingStateViaStateIDs(ctx context.Context, roomID, even
 	if err = t.rsAPI.QueryEventsByID(ctx, &queryReq, &queryRes); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	t.haveEventsMutex.RLock()
 	for i := range queryRes.Events {
 		evID := queryRes.Events[i].EventID()
 		t.haveEvents[evID] = queryRes.Events[i]
@@ -999,7 +987,6 @@ func (t *txnReq) lookupMissingStateViaStateIDs(ctx context.Context, roomID, even
 			delete(missing, evID)
 		}
 	}
-	t.haveEventsMutex.RUnlock()
 
 	concurrentRequests := 8
 	missingCount := len(missing)
@@ -1050,6 +1037,11 @@ func (t *txnReq) lookupMissingStateViaStateIDs(ctx context.Context, roomID, even
 	var fetchgroup sync.WaitGroup
 	fetchgroup.Add(concurrentRequests)
 
+	// This is the only place where we'll write to t.haveEvents from
+	// multiple goroutines, and everywhere else is blocked on this
+	// synchronous function anyway.
+	var haveEventsMutex sync.Mutex
+
 	// Define what we'll do in order to fetch the missing event ID.
 	fetch := func(missingEventID string) {
 		var h *gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent
@@ -1066,9 +1058,9 @@ func (t *txnReq) lookupMissingStateViaStateIDs(ctx context.Context, roomID, even
 			}).Info("Failed to fetch missing event")
 			return
 		}
-		t.haveEventsMutex.Lock()
+		haveEventsMutex.Lock()
 		t.haveEvents[h.EventID()] = h
-		t.haveEventsMutex.Unlock()
+		haveEventsMutex.Unlock()
 	}
 
 	// Create the worker.
@@ -1095,9 +1087,6 @@ func (t *txnReq) createRespStateFromStateIDs(stateIDs gomatrixserverlib.RespStat
 	// create a RespState response using the response to /state_ids as a guide
 	respState := gomatrixserverlib.RespState{}
 
-	t.haveEventsMutex.RLock()
-	defer t.haveEventsMutex.RUnlock()
-
 	for i := range stateIDs.StateEventIDs {
 		ev, ok := t.haveEvents[stateIDs.StateEventIDs[i]]
 		if !ok {