diff --git a/ChangeLog.adoc b/ChangeLog.adoc
index 0745d762f..30b9bbb76 100644
--- a/ChangeLog.adoc
+++ b/ChangeLog.adoc
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ Bug fixes::
   * core: fix resize of a bar when its size is 0 (automatic) (issue #1470)
   * exec: fix use of same task id for different tasks (issue #1491)
   * fifo: fix errors when writing in the FIFO pipe (issue #713)
+  * irc: reuse a buffer with wrong type "channel" when a private message is received (issue #869)
   * python: fix crash when invalid UTF-8 string is in a WeeChat hashtable converted to a Python dict (issue #1463)
   * relay: fix slow send of data to clients when SSL is enabled
   * trigger: fix truncated trigger command with commands /trigger input|output|recreate
diff --git a/src/plugins/irc/irc-channel.c b/src/plugins/irc/irc-channel.c
index 0bf18216d..8b8fa60db 100644
--- a/src/plugins/irc/irc-channel.c
+++ b/src/plugins/irc/irc-channel.c
@@ -247,6 +247,18 @@ irc_channel_create_buffer (struct t_irc_server *server,
 
     ptr_buffer = irc_channel_search_buffer (server, channel_type,
                                             channel_name);
+    if (!ptr_buffer && (channel_type == IRC_CHANNEL_TYPE_PRIVATE))
+    {
+        /*
+         * in case of private buffer, we reuse a buffer which has wrong type
+         * "channel" (opened by a manual /join or autojoin)
+         */
+        ptr_buffer = irc_channel_search_buffer (server,
+                                                IRC_CHANNEL_TYPE_CHANNEL,
+                                                channel_name);
+        if (ptr_buffer)
+            weechat_bar_item_update ("buffer_name");
+    }
     if (ptr_buffer)
     {
         weechat_nicklist_remove_all (ptr_buffer);