diff --git a/swh/loader/svn/ra.py b/swh/loader/svn/ra.py
--- a/swh/loader/svn/ra.py
+++ b/swh/loader/svn/ra.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 """
 
 import click
+import codecs
 import os
 import shutil
 import tempfile
@@ -101,6 +102,19 @@
         return filetype == b'link', src
 
 
+def _ra_codecs_error_handler(e):
+    """Subvertpy may fail to decode to utf-8 the user svn properties.  As
+       they are not used by loader, return an empty string instead of the
+       decoded content.
+
+    Args:
+        e (UnicodeDecodeError): exception raised during the svn
+                                   properties decoding.
+
+    """
+    return u"", e.end
+
+
 DEFAULT_FLAG = 0
 EXEC_FLAG = 1
 NOEXEC_FLAG = 2
@@ -412,7 +426,9 @@
            The updated root directory
 
         """
+        codecs.register_error("strict", _ra_codecs_error_handler)
         self.conn.replay(rev, rev+1, self.editor)
+        codecs.register_error("strict", codecs.strict_errors)
         return self.editor.directory
 
     def compute_hashes(self, rev):