diff --git a/src/domain/ViewModel.ts b/src/domain/ViewModel.ts
index 8b8581ae..0bc52f6e 100644
--- a/src/domain/ViewModel.ts
+++ b/src/domain/ViewModel.ts
@@ -40,9 +40,9 @@ export type Options = {
 export class ViewModel<O extends Options = Options> extends EventEmitter<{change: never}> {
     private disposables?: Disposables;
     private _isDisposed = false;
-    private _options: O;
+    private _options: Readonly<O>;
 
-    constructor(options: O) {
+    constructor(options: Readonly<O>) {
         super();
         this._options = options;
     }
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ export class ViewModel<O extends Options = Options> extends EventEmitter<{change
         return Object.assign({}, this._options, explicitOptions);
     }
 
-    get options(): O { return this._options; }
+    get options(): Readonly<O> { return this._options; }
 
     // makes it easier to pass through dependencies of a sub-view model
     getOption<N extends keyof O>(name: N): O[N]  {
@@ -115,10 +115,6 @@ export class ViewModel<O extends Options = Options> extends EventEmitter<{change
         return result;
     }
 
-    updateOptions(options: O): void {
-        this._options = Object.assign(this._options, options);
-    }
-
     emitChange(changedProps: any): void {
         if (this._options.emitChange) {
             this._options.emitChange(changedProps);
diff --git a/src/domain/session/room/timeline/tiles/SimpleTile.js b/src/domain/session/room/timeline/tiles/SimpleTile.js
index b8a7121e..04141576 100644
--- a/src/domain/session/room/timeline/tiles/SimpleTile.js
+++ b/src/domain/session/room/timeline/tiles/SimpleTile.js
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ export class SimpleTile extends ViewModel {
     constructor(entry, options) {
         super(options);
         this._entry = entry;
+        this._emitUpdate = undefined;
     }
     // view model props for all subclasses
     // hmmm, could also do instanceof ... ?
@@ -67,16 +68,20 @@ export class SimpleTile extends ViewModel {
 
     // TilesCollection contract below
     setUpdateEmit(emitUpdate) {
-        this.updateOptions({emitChange: paramName => {
+        this._emitUpdate = emitUpdate;
+    }
+
+    /** overrides the emitChange in ViewModel to also emit the update over the tiles collection */
+    emitChange(changedProps) {
+        if (this._emitUpdate) {
             // it can happen that after some network call
             // we switched away from the room and the response
             // comes in, triggering an emitChange in a tile that
             // has been disposed already (and hence the change
             // callback has been cleared by dispose) We should just ignore this.
-            if (emitUpdate) {
-                emitUpdate(this, paramName);
-            }
-        }});
+            this._emitUpdate(this, changedProps);
+        }
+        super.emitChange(changedProps);
     }
 
     get upperEntry() {