diff --git a/src/irc/core/channel-events.c b/src/irc/core/channel-events.c
index 38cc0bdd..4b74b322 100644
--- a/src/irc/core/channel-events.c
+++ b/src/irc/core/channel-events.c
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ static void channel_change_topic(IRC_SERVER_REC *server, const char *channel,
 	/* the topic may be sent out encoded, so we need to
 	   recode it back or /topic <tab> will not work properly */
 	recoded = recode_in(SERVER(server), topic, channel);
-	if (recoded == NULL || strlen(recoded) == 0) {
+	if (recoded == NULL || *recoded == '\0') {
 		signal_emit("channel topic changed", 1, chanrec);
 		g_free(recoded);
 		return;