diff --git a/inc/actions.php b/inc/actions.php
index 0a347f4728feeda1fdebe4940541a306998564c2..bebdeefcef688bc17c2633e9c8bb8e00a726b595 100644
--- a/inc/actions.php
+++ b/inc/actions.php
@@ -340,7 +340,8 @@ function act_redirect($id,$preact){
 
   //get section name when coming from section edit
   if($PRE && preg_match('/^\s*==+([^=\n]+)/',$TEXT,$match)){
-    $title = sectionID($match[0]);
+    $check = false;
+    $title = sectionID($match[0],$check);
   }
 
   $opts = array(
diff --git a/inc/pageutils.php b/inc/pageutils.php
index 7a140ef8c41e2d022c9410f44605f3901a9c7674..ccf8d10b87cf80633afb7f6975d643f2edd6e053 100644
--- a/inc/pageutils.php
+++ b/inc/pageutils.php
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ function noNSorNS($id) {
  * @param array   $check   List of existing IDs
  * @author Andreas Gohr <andi@splitbrain.org>
  */
-function sectionID($title,&$check=null) {
+function sectionID($title,&$check) {
     $title = str_replace(':','',cleanID($title));
     $new = ltrim($title,'0123456789._-');
     if(empty($new)){
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ function sectionID($title,&$check=null) {
         $title = $new;
     }
 
-    if(!is_null($check) && is_array($check)){
+    if(is_array($check)){
         // make sure tiles are unique
         $num = '';
         while(in_array($title.$num,$check)){
diff --git a/inc/parser/xhtml.php b/inc/parser/xhtml.php
index 4749c470d645f629c523bca90a9bb8ea34cda118..7ea238f6f5ab05bbb8f459056c95baba97b773ee 100644
--- a/inc/parser/xhtml.php
+++ b/inc/parser/xhtml.php
@@ -1006,7 +1006,8 @@ class Doku_Renderer_xhtml extends Doku_Renderer {
         if($create){
             return sectionID($title,$this->headers);
         }else{
-            return sectionID($title);
+            $check = false;
+            return sectionID($title,$check);
         }
     }