diff --git a/src/components/structures/LeftPanel.js b/src/components/structures/LeftPanel.js
index 0ae9b032d1..bd49f8acd4 100644
--- a/src/components/structures/LeftPanel.js
+++ b/src/components/structures/LeftPanel.js
@@ -190,10 +190,13 @@ const LeftPanel = React.createClass({
 
         const tagPanelEnabled = SettingsStore.getValue("TagPanel.enableTagPanel");
         let tagPanelContainer;
+
+        const isCustomTagsEnabled = SettingsStore.isFeatureEnabled("feature_custom_tags");
+
         if (tagPanelEnabled) {
             tagPanelContainer = (<div className="mx_LeftPanel_tagPanelContainer">
                 <TagPanel />
-                <CustomRoomTagPanel />
+                { isCustomTagsEnabled ? <CustomRoomTagPanel /> : undefined }
                 <TagPanelButtons />
             </div>);
         }
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/RoomList.js b/src/components/views/rooms/RoomList.js
index 8418ab6d6f..56eb4b713d 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/RoomList.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/RoomList.js
@@ -172,11 +172,14 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
             this._delayedRefreshRoomList();
         });
 
-        this._customTagStoreToken = CustomRoomTagStore.addListener(() => {
-            this.setState({
-                customTags: CustomRoomTagStore.getTags(),
+
+        if (SettingsStore.isFeatureEnabled("feature_custom_tags")) {
+            this._customTagStoreToken = CustomRoomTagStore.addListener(() => {
+                this.setState({
+                    customTags: CustomRoomTagStore.getTags(),
+                });
             });
-        });
+        }
 
         this.refreshRoomList();
 
@@ -728,7 +731,8 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
         ];
         const tagSubLists = Object.keys(this.state.lists)
             .filter((tagName) => {
-                return this.state.customTags[tagName] && !tagName.match(STANDARD_TAGS_REGEX);
+                return (!this.state.customTags || this.state.customTags[tagName]) &&
+                    !tagName.match(STANDARD_TAGS_REGEX);
             }).map((tagName) => {
                 return {
                     list: this.state.lists[tagName],
diff --git a/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json b/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json
index 6fd9b4d190..d612ae78ef 100644
--- a/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json
+++ b/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json
@@ -264,6 +264,7 @@
     "Failed to join room": "Failed to join room",
     "Message Pinning": "Message Pinning",
     "Custom user status messages": "Custom user status messages",
+    "Group & filter rooms by custom tags (refresh to apply changes)": "Group & filter rooms by custom tags (refresh to apply changes)",
     "Backup of encryption keys to server": "Backup of encryption keys to server",
     "Render simple counters in room header": "Render simple counters in room header",
     "Two-way device verification using short text": "Two-way device verification using short text",
diff --git a/src/settings/Settings.js b/src/settings/Settings.js
index 833bdc7f8c..02c2bad14b 100644
--- a/src/settings/Settings.js
+++ b/src/settings/Settings.js
@@ -99,6 +99,12 @@ export const SETTINGS = {
         default: false,
         controller: new CustomStatusController(),
     },
+    "feature_custom_tags": {
+        isFeature: true,
+        displayName: _td("Group & filter rooms by custom tags (refresh to apply changes)"),
+        supportedLevels: LEVELS_FEATURE,
+        default: false,
+    },
     "feature_keybackup": {
         isFeature: true,
         displayName: _td("Backup of encryption keys to server"),
diff --git a/src/stores/CustomRoomTagStore.js b/src/stores/CustomRoomTagStore.js
index 9795abadc6..0f7f99aad9 100644
--- a/src/stores/CustomRoomTagStore.js
+++ b/src/stores/CustomRoomTagStore.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import * as RoomNotifs from '../RoomNotifs';
 import RoomListStore from './RoomListStore';
 import EventEmitter from 'events';
 import { throttle } from "lodash";
+import SettingsStore from "../settings/SettingsStore";
 
 const STANDARD_TAGS_REGEX = /^(m\.(favourite|lowpriority|server_notice)|im\.vector\.fake\.(invite|recent|direct|archived))$/;
 
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ class CustomRoomTagStore extends EventEmitter {
         super();
         // Initialise state
         this._state = {tags: {}};
+
         // as RoomListStore gets updated by every timeline event
         // throttle this to only run every 500ms
         this._getUpdatedTags = throttle(
@@ -133,6 +135,10 @@ class CustomRoomTagStore extends EventEmitter {
     }
 
     _getUpdatedTags() {
+        if (!SettingsStore.isFeatureEnabled("feature_custom_tags")) {
+            return;
+        }
+
         const newTagNames = Object.keys(RoomListStore.getRoomLists())
             .filter((tagName) => {
                 return !tagName.match(STANDARD_TAGS_REGEX);
diff --git a/src/stores/RoomListStore.js b/src/stores/RoomListStore.js
index 61e17821bd..d98adc5cae 100644
--- a/src/stores/RoomListStore.js
+++ b/src/stores/RoomListStore.js
@@ -202,6 +202,8 @@ class RoomListStore extends Store {
         // If somehow we dispatched a RoomListActions.tagRoom.failure before a MatrixActions.sync
         if (!this._matrixClient) return;
 
+        const isCustomTagsEnabled = SettingsStore.isFeatureEnabled("feature_custom_tags");
+
         this._matrixClient.getRooms().forEach((room, index) => {
             const myUserId = this._matrixClient.getUserId();
             const membership = room.getMyMembership();
@@ -226,7 +228,7 @@ class RoomListStore extends Store {
 
                 // ignore any m. tag names we don't know about
                 tagNames = tagNames.filter((t) => {
-                    return !t.startsWith('m.') || lists[t] !== undefined;
+                    return (isCustomTagsEnabled && !t.startsWith('m.')) || lists[t] !== undefined;
                 });
 
                 if (tagNames.length) {