diff --git a/inconnu/roleplay/search.py b/inconnu/roleplay/search.py
index 37c2ee0..c699b42 100644
--- a/inconnu/roleplay/search.py
+++ b/inconnu/roleplay/search.py
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 
 import discord
-from dateutil.parser import ParserError
-from dateutil.parser import parse as parse_dt
 from discord.ext.pages import Paginator
 from pymongo import DESCENDING
 
@@ -55,7 +53,7 @@ async def search(
             dt_query["$lt"] = before
         if dt_query:
             query["date"] = dt_query
-    except (ValueError, ParserError) as err:
+    except (ValueError, SyntaxError) as err:
         await inconnu.utils.error(ctx, err, title="Invalid date")
         return
 
@@ -119,18 +117,20 @@ def convert_dates(after: str, before: str) -> tuple[datetime, datetime]:
         ValueError if before is after after.
         ParserError if a datetime can't be inferred."""
 
-    def convert_tzs(dt: datetime) -> datetime:
+    def convert_tzs(dt: str | None) -> datetime:
         """If the datetime has a timezone, convert it to UTC and remove it."""
-        if dt.tzinfo is None:
-            return dt
-        return dt.astimezone(timezone.utc).replace(tzinfo=None)
-
-    # NOTE: In a future dateutil version, this will raise an exception if the
-    # timezone can't be inferred.
-    if after:
-        after = convert_tzs(parse_dt(after))
-    if before:
-        before = convert_tzs(parse_dt(before))
+        if dt is None:
+            return None
+        try:
+            dt = datetime.strptime(dt, "%Y%m%d")
+            if dt.tzinfo is None:
+                return dt
+            return dt.astimezone(timezone.utc).replace(tzinfo=None)
+        except ValueError as err:
+            raise SyntaxError(f"Invalid date: `{dt}`.\nAccepted format: YYYYMMDD.") from err
+
+    after = convert_tzs(after)
+    before = convert_tzs(before)
 
     if before and after:
         if before <= after:
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index 6c8e33c..1e2c2ca 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -1681,21 +1681,6 @@ pytest = ">=6.1.0"
 docs = ["sphinx (>=5.3)", "sphinx-rtd-theme (>=1.0)"]
 testing = ["coverage (>=6.2)", "flaky (>=3.5.0)", "hypothesis (>=5.7.1)", "mypy (>=0.931)", "pytest-trio (>=0.7.0)"]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "python-dateutil"
-version = "2.8.2"
-description = "Extensions to the standard Python datetime module"
-category = "main"
-optional = false
-python-versions = "!=3.0.*,!=3.1.*,!=3.2.*,>=2.7"
-files = [
-    {file = "python-dateutil-2.8.2.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:0123cacc1627ae19ddf3c27a5de5bd67ee4586fbdd6440d9748f8abb483d3e86"},
-    {file = "python_dateutil-2.8.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:961d03dc3453ebbc59dbdea9e4e11c5651520a876d0f4db161e8674aae935da9"},
-]
-
-[package.dependencies]
-six = ">=1.5"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "python-dotenv"
 version = "0.21.1"
@@ -2145,4 +2130,4 @@ multidict = ">=4.0"
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.0"
 python-versions = "^3.10"
-content-hash = "89c81b152acd9c95d13c79d9df36563d29b95ae9847230b468f5b6486ff44b29"
+content-hash = "e39ea81c86127815211580544ea866dd0b39ca3c26df2daaad0fcc0185d3d0dc"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 1ef6377..3b0e279 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ fastapi = "^0.100.0"
 aiocache = "^0.12.1"
 py-cord = "^2.4.1"
 pyparsing = "^3.1.1"
-python-dateutil = "^2.8.2"
 
 [tool.poetry.dev-dependencies]
 debugpy = "^1.6.3"
diff --git a/tests/test_misc.py b/tests/test_misc.py
index 6562ccd..7fdd5e3 100644
--- a/tests/test_misc.py
+++ b/tests/test_misc.py
@@ -124,13 +124,17 @@ def test_dyscrasias(res):
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "after,before,exp_b,exp_a,error",
     [
-        ("2023-10-10", "2023-11-10", dt(2023, 10, 10), dt(2023, 11, 10), False),
-        ("2023-10-10", "2023-9-10", None, None, True),
+        (None, None, None, None, False),
+        (None, "20231110", None, dt(2023, 11, 10), False),
+        ("20231010", None, dt(2023, 10, 10), None, False),
+        ("20231010", "20231110", dt(2023, 10, 10), dt(2023, 11, 10), False),
+        ("20231010", "20230910", None, None, ValueError),  # Date mismatch
+        ("Bad date", "20231010", None, None, SyntaxError),
     ],
 )
-def test_convert_dates(after: str, before: str, exp_b: dt, exp_a: dt, error: bool):
+def test_convert_dates(after: str, before: str, exp_b: dt, exp_a: dt, error: Exception | None):
     if error:
-        with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        with pytest.raises(error):
             b, a = convert_dates(after, before)
     else:
         b, a = convert_dates(after, before)