diff --git a/src/Paragraph.cpp b/src/Paragraph.cpp
index d1197e639e..d7ef263c15 100644
--- a/src/Paragraph.cpp
+++ b/src/Paragraph.cpp
@@ -3409,7 +3409,7 @@ docstring Paragraph::simpleLyXHTMLOnePar(Buffer const & buf,
 		} else {
 			char_type c = getUChar(buf.masterBuffer()->params(),
 					       runparams, i);
-			if (c == ' ' && style.free_spacing)
+			if (c == ' ' && (style.free_spacing || runparams.free_spacing))
 				xs << XHTMLStream::ESCAPE_NONE << "&nbsp;";
 			else
 				xs << c;