diff --git a/test/end-to-end-tests/has_custom_riot.js b/test/end-to-end-tests/has_custom_riot.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ad79c8680b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/end-to-end-tests/has_custom_riot.js
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2018 New Vector Ltd
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+        http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+// used from run.sh as getopts doesn't support long parameters
+const idx = process.argv.indexOf("--riot-url");
+let hasRiotUrl = false;
+if (idx !== -1) {
+    const value = process.argv[idx + 1];
+    hasRiotUrl = !!value;
+}
+process.stdout.write(hasRiotUrl ? "1" : "0" );
diff --git a/test/end-to-end-tests/run.sh b/test/end-to-end-tests/run.sh
index 0e03b733ce..0498d8197d 100755
--- a/test/end-to-end-tests/run.sh
+++ b/test/end-to-end-tests/run.sh
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
+has_custom_riot=$(node has_custom_riot.js $@)
+
 stop_servers() {
-	./riot/stop.sh
-	./synapse/stop.sh
+    if [ $has_custom_riot -ne "1" ]; then
+	   ./riot/stop.sh
+	fi
+    ./synapse/stop.sh
 }
 
 handle_error() {
@@ -15,6 +19,8 @@ handle_error() {
 trap 'handle_error' ERR
 
 ./synapse/start.sh
-./riot/start.sh
+if [ $has_custom_riot -ne "1" ]; then
+    ./riot/start.sh
+fi
 node start.js $@
 stop_servers