diff --git a/linkcheck/checker/httpurl.py b/linkcheck/checker/httpurl.py
index 498e279f..96184f3a 100644
--- a/linkcheck/checker/httpurl.py
+++ b/linkcheck/checker/httpurl.py
@@ -84,8 +84,6 @@ class HttpUrl (internpaturl.InternPatternUrl, proxysupport.ProxySupport):
         handler = linkparse.MetaRobotsFinder()
         parser = htmlsax.parser(handler)
         handler.parser = parser
-        if self.charset:
-            parser.encoding = self.charset
         # parse
         try:
             parser.feed(self.get_raw_content())
diff --git a/linkcheck/htmlutil/formsearch.py b/linkcheck/htmlutil/formsearch.py
index d66a2096..4ef16a53 100644
--- a/linkcheck/htmlutil/formsearch.py
+++ b/linkcheck/htmlutil/formsearch.py
@@ -89,14 +89,13 @@ class FormFinder(object):
             self.form = None
 
 
-def search_form(content, cgiuser, cgipassword, encoding='utf-8'):
+def search_form(content, cgiuser, cgipassword):
     """Search for a HTML form in the given HTML content that has the given
     CGI fields. If no form is found return None.
     """
     handler = FormFinder()
     parser = htmlsax.parser(handler)
     handler.parser = parser
-    parser.encoding = encoding
     # parse
     parser.feed(content)
     parser.flush()
diff --git a/linkcheck/parser/__init__.py b/linkcheck/parser/__init__.py
index 45f8e84d..d234c020 100644
--- a/linkcheck/parser/__init__.py
+++ b/linkcheck/parser/__init__.py
@@ -125,8 +125,6 @@ def find_links (url_data, callback, tags):
     # construct parser object
     handler = linkparse.LinkFinder(callback, tags)
     parser = htmlsax.parser(handler)
-    if url_data.charset:
-        parser.encoding = url_data.charset
     handler.parser = parser
     # parse
     try: