diff --git a/src/HtmlUtils.tsx b/src/HtmlUtils.tsx
index 4a1ad2f074..91245c943e 100644
--- a/src/HtmlUtils.tsx
+++ b/src/HtmlUtils.tsx
@@ -406,6 +406,9 @@ export function bodyToHtml(content: IContent, highlights: string[], opts: IOpts
             const safeHighlights = highlights
                 // sanitizeHtml can hang if an unclosed HTML tag is thrown at it
                 // A search for `<foo` will make the browser crash
+                // an alternative would be to escape HTML special characters
+                // but that would bring no additional benefit as the highlighter
+                // does not work with those special chars
                 .filter((highlight: string): boolean => !highlight.includes("<"))
                 .map((highlight: string): string => sanitizeHtml(highlight, sanitizeParams));
             // XXX: hacky bodge to temporarily apply a textFilter to the sanitizeParams structure.
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/EventTile.tsx b/src/components/views/rooms/EventTile.tsx
index 0c4d2f6fa9..cebb631708 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/EventTile.tsx
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/EventTile.tsx
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ interface IProps {
     showReactions?: boolean;
 
     // which layout to use
-    layout: Layout;
+    layout?: Layout;
 
     // whether or not to show flair at all
     enableFlair?: boolean;