diff --git a/src/init.rs b/src/init.rs
index 3424246..c2cf603 100644
--- a/src/init.rs
+++ b/src/init.rs
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ pub enum InitError {
     #[error("Error restoring existing session: {0}")]
     RestoreSession(RestoreSessionError),
 
+    #[error("Error purging existing database: {0}")]
+    PurgeDatabase(std::io::Error),
+
     #[error("Whoami sanity check failed due to an invalid access token. You may need to delete all persisted data (session and database) and start fresh")]
     WhoAmISanityCheckFailed,
 
@@ -115,6 +118,21 @@ pub async fn init(init_config: &InitConfig) -> Result<MatrixLink, InitError> {
         });
 
         perform_whoami_sanity_check(&client).await?;
+    } else {
+        // No session file. Let's make sure the database directory is empty too, so we can start a new session cleanly.
+
+        if persistence_manager.has_existing_db_state_file() {
+            tracing::warn!(
+                "Found an existing database state file ({}), but no session file ({}). This may happen when a previous initialization attempt failed mid-way or if the session file was deleted subsequently. The only way to recover is to start fresh. Doing that now..",
+                persistence_manager.db_state_file_path().to_string_lossy(),
+                persistence_manager.session_file_path().to_string_lossy(),
+            );
+
+            persistence_manager.purge_database()
+                .map_err(InitError::PurgeDatabase)?;
+
+            tracing::info!("The old database has been purged successfully");
+        }
     }
 
     let client_state = if let Some(client_state) = client_state {
diff --git a/src/persistence.rs b/src/persistence.rs
index fbe964b..e94204e 100644
--- a/src/persistence.rs
+++ b/src/persistence.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
 use tokio::fs;
 
 use thiserror::Error;
@@ -41,8 +43,41 @@ impl Manager {
         }
     }
 
+    pub(crate) fn session_file_path(&self) -> PathBuf {
+        self.config.session_file_path.clone()
+    }
+
+    pub(crate) fn db_state_file_path(&self) -> PathBuf {
+        self.config.db_dir_path.join("matrix-sdk-state.sqlite3")
+    }
+
     pub(crate) fn has_existing_session(&self) -> bool {
-        self.config.session_file_path.exists()
+        self.session_file_path().exists()
+    }
+
+    pub(crate) fn has_existing_db_state_file(&self) -> bool {
+        self.db_state_file_path().exists()
+    }
+
+    pub(crate) fn purge_database(&self) -> Result<(), std::io::Error> {
+        let base_path = self.config.db_dir_path.clone();
+
+        for entry in std::fs::read_dir(base_path)? {
+            let entry = entry?;
+            let path = entry.path();
+            if !path.is_file() {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            // Out of precaution, we'll only be deleting *.sqlite3 files
+            if !path.extension().map_or(false, |ext| ext == "sqlite3") {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            std::fs::remove_file(path)?;
+        }
+
+        Ok(())
     }
 
     pub(crate) async fn read_full_session(&self) -> Result<FullSession, SessionPersistenceError> {