diff --git a/qubesmgmt/__init__.py b/qubesmgmt/__init__.py
index 9eb601c1..4b834bc0 100644
--- a/qubesmgmt/__init__.py
+++ b/qubesmgmt/__init__.py
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ def _parse_qubesd_response(response_data):
             # drop last field because of terminating '\x00'
             args = [arg.decode() for arg in args.split(b'\x00')[:-1]]
             format_string = format_string.decode('utf-8')
+            exc_type = exc_type.decode('ascii')
             exc_class = getattr(qubesmgmt.exc, exc_type, 'QubesException')
             # TODO: handle traceback if given
             raise exc_class(format_string, *args)
@@ -87,7 +88,7 @@ def property_list(self):
                 self._method_prefix + 'List',
                 None,
                 None)
-            self._properties = properties_str.splitlines()
+            self._properties = properties_str.decode('ascii').splitlines()
         # TODO: make it somehow immutable
         return self._properties
 
@@ -114,9 +115,10 @@ def __getattr__(self, item):
                 self._method_prefix + 'Get',
                 item,
                 None)
-        (_default, value) = property_str.split(' ', 1)
+        (_default, value) = property_str.split(b' ', 1)
+        value = value.decode()
         if value[0] == '\'':
-            return ast.literal_eval('b' + value)
+            return ast.literal_eval('u' + value)
         else:
             return ast.literal_eval(value)
 
@@ -137,7 +139,7 @@ def __setattr__(self, key, value):
                 self._method_dest,
                 self._method_prefix + 'Set',
                 key,
-                bytes(value))
+                str(value).encode('utf-8'))
 
     def __delattr__(self, name):
         if name.startswith('_') or name in dir(self):
diff --git a/qubesmgmt/app.py b/qubesmgmt/app.py
index 47cbea4d..b56d07fa 100644
--- a/qubesmgmt/app.py
+++ b/qubesmgmt/app.py
@@ -44,10 +44,10 @@ def refresh_cache(self, force=False):
         new_vm_list = {}
         # FIXME: this will probably change
         for vm_data in vm_list_data.splitlines():
-            vm_name, props = vm_data.split(b' ', 1)
-            props = props.split(b' ')
+            vm_name, props = vm_data.decode('ascii').split(' ', 1)
+            props = props.split(' ')
             new_vm_list[vm_name] = dict(
-                [vm_prop.split(b'=', 1) for vm_prop in props])
+                [vm_prop.split('=', 1) for vm_prop in props])
 
         self._vm_list = new_vm_list
 
diff --git a/qubesmgmt/tests/app.py b/qubesmgmt/tests/app.py
index 7f19e7b6..2e062584 100644
--- a/qubesmgmt/tests/app.py
+++ b/qubesmgmt/tests/app.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ def test_000_list(self):
         self.app.expected_calls[('dom0', 'mgmt.vm.List', None, None)] = \
             b'0\x00test-vm class=AppVM state=running\n'
         self.assertEqual(
-            self.app.domains.keys(),
+            list(self.app.domains.keys()),
             ['test-vm'])
         self.assertAllCalled()