diff --git a/base-notebook/start.sh b/base-notebook/start.sh
index 52999f90..4795dee6 100755
--- a/base-notebook/start.sh
+++ b/base-notebook/start.sh
@@ -20,7 +20,10 @@ if [ $(id -u) == 0 ] ; then
     
     # Handle case where provisioned storage does not have the correct permissions by default
     # Ex: default NFS/EFS (no auto-uid/gid)
-    chown $NB_UID:$NB_GID /home/$NB_USER
+    if [[ "$CHOWN_HOME" == "1" || "$CHOWN_HOME" == 'yes' ]]; then
+        echo "Changing ownership of /home/$NB_USER to $NB_UID:$NB_GID"
+        chown $NB_UID:$NB_GID /home/$NB_USER
+    fi
 
     # handle home and working directory if the username changed
     if [[ "$NB_USER" != "jovyan" ]]; then