diff --git a/synapse/handlers/federation.py b/synapse/handlers/federation.py
index eb02f0e000..c28226f840 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/federation.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/federation.py
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ from synapse.events.utils import prune_event
 from synapse.util.retryutils import NotRetryingDestination
 
 from synapse.push.action_generator import ActionGenerator
+from synapse.util.distributor import user_joined_room
 
 from twisted.internet import defer
 
@@ -49,10 +50,6 @@ import logging
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-def user_joined_room(distributor, user, room_id):
-    return distributor.fire("user_joined_room", user, room_id)
-
-
 class FederationHandler(BaseHandler):
     """Handles events that originated from federation.
         Responsible for:
diff --git a/synapse/handlers/register.py b/synapse/handlers/register.py
index f287ee247b..b0862067e1 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/register.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/register.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ from synapse.api.errors import (
 from ._base import BaseHandler
 from synapse.util.async import run_on_reactor
 from synapse.http.client import CaptchaServerHttpClient
+from synapse.util.distributor import registered_user
 
 import logging
 import urllib
@@ -30,10 +31,6 @@ import urllib
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-def registered_user(distributor, user):
-    return distributor.fire("registered_user", user)
-
-
 class RegistrationHandler(BaseHandler):
 
     def __init__(self, hs):
diff --git a/synapse/handlers/room.py b/synapse/handlers/room.py
index 3e1d9282d7..ea306cd42a 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/room.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/room.py
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ from synapse.api.constants import (
 from synapse.api.errors import AuthError, StoreError, SynapseError
 from synapse.util import stringutils
 from synapse.util.async import concurrently_execute
-from synapse.util.logcontext import preserve_context_over_fn
 from synapse.util.caches.response_cache import ResponseCache
 
 from collections import OrderedDict
@@ -39,20 +38,6 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 id_server_scheme = "https://"
 
 
-def user_left_room(distributor, user, room_id):
-    return preserve_context_over_fn(
-        distributor.fire,
-        "user_left_room", user=user, room_id=room_id
-    )
-
-
-def user_joined_room(distributor, user, room_id):
-    return preserve_context_over_fn(
-        distributor.fire,
-        "user_joined_room", user=user, room_id=room_id
-    )
-
-
 class RoomCreationHandler(BaseHandler):
 
     PRESETS_DICT = {
diff --git a/synapse/handlers/room_member.py b/synapse/handlers/room_member.py
index b6ef3c91af..753c75d9c1 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/room_member.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/room_member.py
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ from synapse.api.constants import (
     EventTypes, Membership,
 )
 from synapse.api.errors import AuthError, SynapseError, Codes
-from synapse.util.logcontext import preserve_context_over_fn
 from synapse.util.async import Linearizer
+from synapse.util.distributor import user_left_room, user_joined_room
 
 from signedjson.sign import verify_signed_json
 from signedjson.key import decode_verify_key_bytes
@@ -38,20 +38,6 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 id_server_scheme = "https://"
 
 
-def user_left_room(distributor, user, room_id):
-    return preserve_context_over_fn(
-        distributor.fire,
-        "user_left_room", user=user, room_id=room_id
-    )
-
-
-def user_joined_room(distributor, user, room_id):
-    return preserve_context_over_fn(
-        distributor.fire,
-        "user_joined_room", user=user, room_id=room_id
-    )
-
-
 class RoomMemberHandler(BaseHandler):
     # TODO(paul): This handler currently contains a messy conflation of
     #   low-level API that works on UserID objects and so on, and REST-level
diff --git a/synapse/util/distributor.py b/synapse/util/distributor.py
index 8875813de4..d7cccc06b1 100644
--- a/synapse/util/distributor.py
+++ b/synapse/util/distributor.py
@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@
 
 from twisted.internet import defer
 
-from synapse.util.logcontext import PreserveLoggingContext
+from synapse.util.logcontext import (
+    PreserveLoggingContext, preserve_context_over_fn
+)
 
 from synapse.util import unwrapFirstError
 
@@ -25,6 +27,24 @@ import logging
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
+def registered_user(distributor, user):
+    return distributor.fire("registered_user", user)
+
+
+def user_left_room(distributor, user, room_id):
+    return preserve_context_over_fn(
+        distributor.fire,
+        "user_left_room", user=user, room_id=room_id
+    )
+
+
+def user_joined_room(distributor, user, room_id):
+    return preserve_context_over_fn(
+        distributor.fire,
+        "user_joined_room", user=user, room_id=room_id
+    )
+
+
 class Distributor(object):
     """A central dispatch point for loosely-connected pieces of code to
     register, observe, and fire signals.