diff --git a/control_plane/src/local_env.rs b/control_plane/src/local_env.rs
index 3ac3ce21df..a677cef125 100644
--- a/control_plane/src/local_env.rs
+++ b/control_plane/src/local_env.rs
@@ -155,6 +155,9 @@ pub struct NeonStorageControllerConf {
 
     /// Threshold for auto-splitting a tenant into shards
     pub split_threshold: Option<u64>,
+
+    /// Whether to enable background reconciliation
+    pub background_reconcile: Option<bool>,
 }
 
 impl NeonStorageControllerConf {
@@ -168,6 +171,7 @@ impl Default for NeonStorageControllerConf {
         Self {
             max_unavailable: Self::DEFAULT_MAX_UNAVAILABLE_INTERVAL,
             split_threshold: None,
+            background_reconcile: None,
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/storage_controller/src/main.rs b/storage_controller/src/main.rs
index f1eb0b30fc..a222834051 100644
--- a/storage_controller/src/main.rs
+++ b/storage_controller/src/main.rs
@@ -75,6 +75,10 @@ struct Cli {
     #[arg(long)]
     reconciler_concurrency: Option<usize>,
 
+    /// Whether to spawn a background reconciliation task (enabled by default)
+    #[arg(long)]
+    background_reconcile: Option<bool>,
+
     /// How long to wait for the initial database connection to be available.
     #[arg(long, default_value = "5s")]
     db_connect_timeout: humantime::Duration,
@@ -266,6 +270,7 @@ async fn async_main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         reconciler_concurrency: args
             .reconciler_concurrency
             .unwrap_or(RECONCILER_CONCURRENCY_DEFAULT),
+        background_reconcile: args.background_reconcile.unwrap_or(true),
         split_threshold: args.split_threshold,
         neon_local_repo_dir: args.neon_local_repo_dir,
     };
diff --git a/storage_controller/src/service.rs b/storage_controller/src/service.rs
index deaac83ea5..87e4b418bf 100644
--- a/storage_controller/src/service.rs
+++ b/storage_controller/src/service.rs
@@ -240,6 +240,8 @@ pub struct Config {
     /// How many Reconcilers may be spawned concurrently
     pub reconciler_concurrency: usize,
 
+    pub background_reconcile: bool,
+
     /// How large must a shard grow in bytes before we split it?
     /// None disables auto-splitting.
     pub split_threshold: Option<u64>,
@@ -1229,14 +1231,16 @@ impl Service {
             }
         });
 
-        tokio::task::spawn({
-            let this = this.clone();
-            let startup_complete = startup_complete.clone();
-            async move {
-                startup_complete.wait().await;
-                this.background_reconcile().await;
-            }
-        });
+        if config.background_reconcile {
+            tokio::task::spawn({
+                let this = this.clone();
+                let startup_complete = startup_complete.clone();
+                async move {
+                    startup_complete.wait().await;
+                    this.background_reconcile().await;
+                }
+            });
+        }
 
         tokio::task::spawn({
             let this = this.clone();
diff --git a/test_runner/regress/test_tenants.py b/test_runner/regress/test_tenants.py
index 04b3fdd80f..2880d7ea5e 100644
--- a/test_runner/regress/test_tenants.py
+++ b/test_runner/regress/test_tenants.py
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ from fixtures.metrics import (
     parse_metrics,
 )
 from fixtures.neon_fixtures import (
-    NeonEnv,
     NeonEnvBuilder,
     wait_for_last_flush_lsn,
 )
@@ -29,7 +28,14 @@ from fixtures.utils import wait_until
 from prometheus_client.samples import Sample
 
 
-def test_tenant_creation_fails(neon_simple_env: NeonEnv):
+def test_tenant_creation_fails(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder):
+
+    neon_env_builder.storage_controller_config = {
+        "background_reconcile": False
+    }
+
+    neon_simple_env = neon_env_builder.init_start()
+
     tenants_dir = neon_simple_env.pageserver.tenant_dir()
     initial_tenants = sorted(
         map(lambda t: t.split()[0], neon_simple_env.neon_cli.list_tenants().stdout.splitlines())