diff --git a/synapse/handlers/federation.py b/synapse/handlers/federation.py

index 5371336529..50f8041f17 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/federation.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/federation.py
@@ -952,7 +952,20 @@ class FederationHandler:
         #
         # Note that this requires the /send_join request to come back to the
         # same server.
+        prev_event_ids = None
         if room_version.msc3083_join_rules:
+            # Note that the room's state can change out from under us and render our
+            # nice join rules-conformant event non-conformant by the time we build the
+            # event. When this happens, our validation at the end fails and we respond
+            # to the requesting server with a 403, which is misleading — it indicates
+            # that the user is not allowed to join the room and the joining server
+            # should not bother retrying via this homeserver or any others, when
+            # in fact we've just messed up with building the event.
+            #
+            # To reduce the likelihood of this race, we capture the forward extremities
+            # of the room (prev_event_ids) just before fetching the current state, and
+            # hope that the state we fetch corresponds to the prev events we chose.
+            prev_event_ids = await self.store.get_prev_events_for_room(room_id)
             state_ids = await self._state_storage_controller.get_current_state_ids(
                 room_id
             )
@@ -995,7 +1008,8 @@ class FederationHandler:
                 unpersisted_context,
                 _,
             ) = await self.event_creation_handler.create_new_client_event(
-                builder=builder
+                builder=builder,
+                prev_event_ids=prev_event_ids,
             )
         except SynapseError as e:
             logger.warning("Failed to create join to %s because %s", room_id, e)