diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 24afb93d7..5409f0c56 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ Synapse offers two database engines:
  * `PostgreSQL <https://www.postgresql.org>`_
 
 By default Synapse uses SQLite in and doing so trades performance for convenience.
-SQLite is only recommended in Synapse for testing purposes or for servers with 
+SQLite is only recommended in Synapse for testing purposes or for servers with
 light workloads.
 
 Almost all installations should opt to use PostreSQL. Advantages include:
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ to install using pip and a virtualenv::
 
     virtualenv -p python3 env
     source env/bin/activate
-    python -m pip install -e .[all]
+    python -m pip install --no-pep-517 -e .[all]
 
 This will run a process of downloading and installing all the needed
 dependencies into a virtual env.
diff --git a/changelog.d/5098.misc b/changelog.d/5098.misc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9cd83bf22
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/5098.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Add workarounds for pep-517 install errors.
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index ef543890f..d0e519ce4 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ deps =
     pip>=10
 
 setenv =
+    # we have a pyproject.toml, but don't want pip to use it for building.
+    # (otherwise we get an error about 'editable mode is not supported for
+    # pyproject.toml-style projects').
+    PIP_USE_PEP517 = false
+
     PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE = no_byte_code
     COVERAGE_PROCESS_START = {toxinidir}/.coveragerc