diff --git a/changelog.d/16150.misc b/changelog.d/16150.misc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..97861282f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/16150.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Clean-up calling `setup_background_tasks` in unit tests.
diff --git a/tests/server.py b/tests/server.py
index 481fe34c5..ff03d2886 100644
--- a/tests/server.py
+++ b/tests/server.py
@@ -1000,8 +1000,6 @@ def setup_test_homeserver(
     hs.tls_server_context_factory = Mock()
 
     hs.setup()
-    if homeserver_to_use == TestHomeServer:
-        hs.setup_background_tasks()
 
     if isinstance(db_engine, PostgresEngine):
         database_pool = hs.get_datastores().databases[0]