diff --git a/res/css/structures/_AutoHideScrollbar.scss b/res/css/structures/_AutoHideScrollbar.scss
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0b8558a61e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/res/css/structures/_AutoHideScrollbar.scss
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2018 New Vector Ltd
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+/*
+1. for browsers that support native overlay auto-hiding scrollbars
+*/
+.mx_AutoHideScrollbar {
+    overflow-y: auto;
+    -ms-overflow-style: -ms-autohiding-scrollbar;
+}
+/*
+2. webkit also supports overflow:overlay where the scrollbars don't take any space
+in the layout but they don't autohide, so do that only on hover
+*/
+body.mx_scrollbar_overlay_noautohide .mx_AutoHideScrollbar {
+    overflow-y: hidden;
+}
+
+body.mx_scrollbar_overlay_noautohide .mx_AutoHideScrollbar:hover {
+    overflow-y: overlay;
+}
+/*
+3. as a last fallback, compensate for the scrollbar taking up space in the layout
+by playing with the paddings. the default below will add a right padding
+of the scrollbar width and clear that on hover.
+this won't work well on classes that also need to set their padding,
+so this needs to be overriden and adjust the padding with calc like so:
+```
+body.mx_scrollbar_nooverlay .componentClass.mx_AutoHideScrollbar_overflow:hover {
+    padding-right: calc(15px - var(--scrollbar-width)) !important;
+}
+```
+*/
+body.mx_scrollbar_nooverlay .mx_AutoHideScrollbar {
+    box-sizing: border-box;
+    overflow-y: hidden;
+    padding-right: var(--scrollbar-width);
+}
+
+body.mx_scrollbar_nooverlay .mx_AutoHideScrollbar:hover {
+    overflow-y: auto;
+    padding-right: 0;
+}
diff --git a/src/components/structures/AutoHideScrollbar.js b/src/components/structures/AutoHideScrollbar.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..66c3b0d6e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/structures/AutoHideScrollbar.js
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2018 New Vector Ltd
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+import React from "react";
+
+// derived from code from github.com/noeldelgado/gemini-scrollbar
+// Copyright (c) Noel Delgado <pixelia.me@gmail.com> (pixelia.me)
+function getScrollbarWidth(alternativeOverflow) {
+    var e = document.createElement('div'), sw;
+    e.style.position = 'absolute';
+    e.style.top = '-9999px';
+    e.style.width = '100px';
+    e.style.height = '100px';
+    e.style.overflow = "scroll";
+    if (alternativeOverflow) {
+        e.style.overflow = alternativeOverflow;
+    }
+    e.style.msOverflowStyle = '-ms-autohiding-scrollbar';
+    document.body.appendChild(e);
+    sw = (e.offsetWidth - e.clientWidth);
+    document.body.removeChild(e);
+    return sw;
+}
+
+function install() {
+    const scrollbarWidth = getScrollbarWidth();
+    if (scrollbarWidth !== 0) {
+        const hasForcedOverlayScrollbar = getScrollbarWidth('overlay') === 0;
+        // overflow: overlay on webkit doesn't auto hide the scrollbar
+        if (hasForcedOverlayScrollbar) {
+            document.body.classList.add("mx_scrollbar_overlay_noautohide");
+        } else {
+            document.body.classList.add("mx_scrollbar_nooverlay");
+            const style = document.createElement('style');
+            style.type = 'text/css';
+            style.innerText =
+                `body.mx_scrollbar_nooverlay { --scrollbar-width: ${scrollbarWidth}px; }`;
+            document.head.appendChild(style);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+const installBodyClassesIfNeeded = (function() {
+    let installed = false;
+    return function() {
+        if (!installed) {
+            install();
+            installed = true;
+        }
+    }
+})();
+
+export default class AutoHideScrollbar extends React.Component {
+
+    constructor(props) {
+        super(props);
+        this.onOverflow = this.onOverflow.bind(this);
+        this.onUnderflow = this.onUnderflow.bind(this);
+        this._collectContainerRef = this._collectContainerRef.bind(this);
+    }
+
+    onOverflow() {
+        this.containerRef.classList.add("mx_AutoHideScrollbar_overflow");
+        this.containerRef.classList.remove("mx_AutoHideScrollbar_underflow");
+    }
+
+    onUnderflow() {
+        this.containerRef.classList.remove("mx_AutoHideScrollbar_overflow");
+        this.containerRef.classList.add("mx_AutoHideScrollbar_underflow");
+    }
+
+    _collectContainerRef(ref) {
+        if (ref && !this.containerRef) {
+            this.containerRef = ref;
+            const needsOverflowListener =
+                document.body.classList.contains("mx_scrollbar_nooverlay");
+
+            if (needsOverflowListener) {
+                this.containerRef.addEventListener("overflow", this.onOverflow);
+                this.containerRef.addEventListener("underflow", this.onUnderflow);
+            }
+            if (ref.scrollHeight > ref.clientHeight) {
+                this.onOverflow();
+            } else {
+                this.onUnderflow();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    componentWillUnmount() {
+        if (this.containerRef) {
+            this.containerRef.removeEventListener("overflow", this.onOverflow);
+            this.containerRef.removeEventListener("underflow", this.onUnderflow);
+        }
+    }
+
+    render() {
+        installBodyClassesIfNeeded();
+        return (<div
+                    ref={this._collectContainerRef}
+                    className={["mx_AutoHideScrollbar", this.props.className].join(" ")}
+                >
+            { this.props.children }
+        </div>);
+    }
+}