diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/MemberList.js b/src/components/views/rooms/MemberList.js
index fbc0e477a1..55fe650b7b 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/MemberList.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/MemberList.js
@@ -133,6 +133,12 @@ export default class MemberList extends React.Component {
         }
     }
 
+    get canInvite() {
+        const cli = MatrixClientPeg.get();
+        const room = cli.getRoom(this.props.roomId);
+        return room && room.canInvite(cli.getUserId());
+    }
+
     _getMembersState(members) {
         // set the state after determining _showPresence to make sure it's
         // taken into account while rerendering
@@ -141,6 +147,7 @@ export default class MemberList extends React.Component {
             members: members,
             filteredJoinedMembers: this._filterMembers(members, 'join'),
             filteredInvitedMembers: this._filterMembers(members, 'invite'),
+            canInvite: this.canInvite,
 
             // ideally we'd size this to the page height, but
             // in practice I find that a little constraining
@@ -196,6 +203,8 @@ export default class MemberList extends React.Component {
             event.getType() === "m.room.third_party_invite") {
             this._updateList();
         }
+
+        if (this.canInvite !== this.state.canInvite) this.setState({ canInvite: this.canInvite });
     };
 
     _updateList = rate_limited_func(() => {
@@ -455,8 +464,6 @@ export default class MemberList extends React.Component {
         let inviteButton;
 
         if (room && room.getMyMembership() === 'join') {
-            const canInvite = room.canInvite(cli.getUserId());
-
             let inviteButtonText = _t("Invite to this room");
             const chat = CommunityPrototypeStore.instance.getSelectedCommunityGeneralChat();
             if (chat && chat.roomId === this.props.roomId) {
@@ -467,7 +474,7 @@ export default class MemberList extends React.Component {
 
             const AccessibleButton = sdk.getComponent("elements.AccessibleButton");
             inviteButton =
-                <AccessibleButton className="mx_MemberList_invite" onClick={this.onInviteButtonClick} disabled={!canInvite}>
+                <AccessibleButton className="mx_MemberList_invite" onClick={this.onInviteButtonClick} disabled={!this.state.canInvite}>
                     <span>{ inviteButtonText }</span>
                 </AccessibleButton>;
         }
diff --git a/test/components/views/rooms/MemberList-test.js b/test/components/views/rooms/MemberList-test.js
index 093e5588d0..50b40dea20 100644
--- a/test/components/views/rooms/MemberList-test.js
+++ b/test/components/views/rooms/MemberList-test.js
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ describe('MemberList', () => {
         };
         memberListRoom.currentState = {
             members: {},
+            getMember: jest.fn(),
             getStateEvents: (eventType, stateKey) => stateKey === undefined ? [] : null, // ignore 3pid invites
         };
         for (const member of [...adminUsers, ...moderatorUsers, ...defaultUsers]) {
diff --git a/test/test-utils.js b/test/test-utils.js
index bad3547133..4faf948178 100644
--- a/test/test-utils.js
+++ b/test/test-utils.js
@@ -246,6 +246,7 @@ export function mkStubRoom(roomId = null) {
         maySendMessage: jest.fn().mockReturnValue(true),
         currentState: {
             getStateEvents: jest.fn(),
+            getMember: jest.fn(),
             mayClientSendStateEvent: jest.fn().mockReturnValue(true),
             maySendStateEvent: jest.fn().mockReturnValue(true),
             maySendEvent: jest.fn().mockReturnValue(true),