diff --git a/nsupdate/settings/base.py b/nsupdate/settings/base.py
index 85fb1eb..5479d9e 100644
--- a/nsupdate/settings/base.py
+++ b/nsupdate/settings/base.py
@@ -237,6 +237,7 @@ LOGGING = {
 SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER = ('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO', 'https')
 
 ACCOUNT_ACTIVATION_DAYS = 7
+REGISTRATION_EMAIL_HTML = False  # we override the text, but not the html email template
 
 LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL = '/overview/'