diff --git a/lib/models/room.js b/lib/models/room.js
index 3abf8f580..eb6ff3ae9 100644
--- a/lib/models/room.js
+++ b/lib/models/room.js
@@ -199,8 +199,8 @@ Room.prototype.addEventsToTimeline = function(events, toStartOfTimeline) {
         // Done after adding the event because otherwise the app would get a read receipt
         // pointing to an event that wasn't yet in the timeline
 
-        // This is really ugly because JS has no way to express an object literal where the
-        // name of a key comes from an expression
+        // This is really ugly because JS has no way to express an object literal
+        // where the name of a key comes from an expression
         if (events[i].sender) {
             var fakeReceipt = {content: {}};
             fakeReceipt.content[events[i].getId()] = {
@@ -284,14 +284,17 @@ Room.prototype.addEvents = function(events, duplicateStrategy) {
  * @param {String} event_ids A list of event_ids to remove.
  */
 Room.prototype.removeEvents = function(event_ids) {
+    // avoids defining a function in the loop, which is a lint error
+    function eq(a, b) {
+        return a === b;
+    }
+
     for (var i = 0; i < event_ids.length; ++i) {
         // NB. we supply reverse to search from the end,
         // on the assumption that recents events are much
         // more likley to be removed than older ones.
         var removed = utils.removeElement(
-            this.timeline, function(e) {
-                return e.getId() == event_ids[i];
-            }, true
+            this.timeline, eq.bind(event_ids[i]), true
         );
         if (removed !== false) {
             this.emit("Room.timeline", removed, this, undefined, true);
diff --git a/lib/utils.js b/lib/utils.js
index 141aef734..955903fff 100644
--- a/lib/utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils.js
@@ -152,10 +152,11 @@ module.exports.findElement = function(array, fn, reverse) {
  */
 module.exports.removeElement = function(array, fn, reverse) {
     var i;
+    var removed;
     if (reverse) {
         for (i = array.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
             if (fn(array[i], i, array)) {
-                var removed = array[i];
+                removed = array[i];
                 array.splice(i, 1);
                 return removed;
             }
@@ -164,7 +165,7 @@ module.exports.removeElement = function(array, fn, reverse) {
     else {
         for (i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
             if (fn(array[i], i, array)) {
-                var removed = array[i];
+                removed = array[i];
                 array.splice(i, 1);
                 return removed;
             }