diff --git a/src/core/qgsvectorlayer.cpp b/src/core/qgsvectorlayer.cpp
index eba1045c06d..94a31c423ec 100644
--- a/src/core/qgsvectorlayer.cpp
+++ b/src/core/qgsvectorlayer.cpp
@@ -4321,7 +4321,7 @@ QString QgsVectorLayer::getStyleFromDatabase( const QString& styleId, QString &m
   if ( !myLib )
   {
     msgError = QObject::tr( "Unable to load %1 provider" ).arg( mProviderKey );
-    return QObject::tr( "" );
+    return QString();
   }
   getStyleById_t* getStyleByIdMethod = reinterpret_cast< getStyleById_t * >( cast_to_fptr( myLib->resolve( "getStyleById" ) ) );
 
@@ -4329,7 +4329,7 @@ QString QgsVectorLayer::getStyleFromDatabase( const QString& styleId, QString &m
   {
     delete myLib;
     msgError = QObject::tr( "Provider %1 has no %2 method" ).arg( mProviderKey, QStringLiteral( "getStyleById" ) );
-    return QObject::tr( "" );
+    return QString();
   }
 
   return getStyleByIdMethod( mDataSource, styleId, msgError );
diff --git a/src/gui/qgstextannotationitem.cpp b/src/gui/qgstextannotationitem.cpp
index 6c4651c7a46..700ace595fc 100644
--- a/src/gui/qgstextannotationitem.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/qgstextannotationitem.cpp
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 #include <QDomDocument>
 #include <QPainter>
 
-QgsTextAnnotationItem::QgsTextAnnotationItem( QgsMapCanvas* canvas ): QgsAnnotationItem( canvas ), mDocument( new QTextDocument( QObject::tr( "" ) ) )
+QgsTextAnnotationItem::QgsTextAnnotationItem( QgsMapCanvas* canvas ): QgsAnnotationItem( canvas ), mDocument( new QTextDocument( QString() ) )
 {
   mDocument->setUseDesignMetrics( true );
 }
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ void QgsTextAnnotationItem::readXml( const QDomDocument& doc, const QDomElement&
 {
   delete mDocument;
   mDocument = new QTextDocument;
-  mDocument->setHtml( itemElem.attribute( QStringLiteral( "document" ), QObject::tr( "" ) ) );
+  mDocument->setHtml( itemElem.attribute( QStringLiteral( "document" ), QString() ) );
   QDomElement annotationElem = itemElem.firstChildElement( QStringLiteral( "AnnotationItem" ) );
   if ( !annotationElem.isNull() )
   {