diff --git a/src/matrix-utils.ts b/src/matrix-utils.ts
index 2f7897b82..bfcf6882d 100644
--- a/src/matrix-utils.ts
+++ b/src/matrix-utils.ts
@@ -80,6 +80,9 @@ export async function initClient(
     ...storeOpts,
     ...clientOptions,
     useAuthorizationHeader: true,
+    // Use a relatively low timeout for API calls: this is a realtime application
+    // so we don't want API calls taking ages, we'd rather they just fail.
+    localTimeoutMs: 5000,
   });
 
   try {