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

index 6873a4575d..a9e43052b7 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/_base.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/_base.py
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ class BaseHandler(object):
         self.event_builder_factory = hs.get_event_builder_factory()
 
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
-    def _filter_events_for_client(self, user_id, events, is_guest=False):
+    def _filter_events_for_client(self, user_id, events, is_guest=False,
+                                  require_all_visible_for_guests=True):
         # Assumes that user has at some point joined the room if not is_guest.
 
         def allowed(event, membership, visibility):
@@ -100,7 +101,9 @@ class BaseHandler(object):
             if should_include:
                 events_to_return.append(event)
 
-        if is_guest and len(events_to_return) < len(events):
+        if (require_all_visible_for_guests
+                and is_guest
+                and len(events_to_return) < len(events)):
             # This indicates that some events in the requested range were not
             # visible to guest users. To be safe, we reject the entire request,
             # so that we don't have to worry about interpreting visibility