diff --git a/src/socket.io/modules.js b/src/socket.io/modules.js
index 954d407d5f..b77d22252d 100644
--- a/src/socket.io/modules.js
+++ b/src/socket.io/modules.js
@@ -53,13 +53,9 @@ SocketModules.chats.newRoom = function(socket, data, callback) {
 	if (!data) {
 		return callback(new Error('[[error:invalid-data]]'));
 	}
-	var now = Date.now();
-	// Websocket rate limiting
-	socket.lastChatMessageTime = socket.lastChatMessageTime || 0;
-	if (now - socket.lastChatMessageTime < 200) {
+
+	if (rateLimitExceeded(socket)) {
 		return callback(new Error('[[error:too-many-messages]]'));
-	} else {
-		socket.lastChatMessageTime = now;
 	}
 
 	Messaging.canMessageUser(socket.uid, data.touid, function(err) {
@@ -76,14 +72,8 @@ SocketModules.chats.send = function(socket, data, callback) {
 		return callback(new Error('[[error:invalid-data]]'));
 	}
 
-	var now = Date.now();
-
-	// Websocket rate limiting
-	socket.lastChatMessageTime = socket.lastChatMessageTime || 0;
-	if (now - socket.lastChatMessageTime < 200) {
+	if (rateLimitExceeded(socket)) {
 		return callback(new Error('[[error:too-many-messages]]'));
-	} else {
-		socket.lastChatMessageTime = now;
 	}
 
 	async.waterfall([
@@ -100,7 +90,7 @@ SocketModules.chats.send = function(socket, data, callback) {
 			Messaging.canMessageRoom(socket.uid, data.roomId, next);
 		},
 		function (next) {
-			Messaging.sendMessage(socket.uid, data.roomId, data.message, now, next);
+			Messaging.sendMessage(socket.uid, data.roomId, data.message, Date.now(), next);
 		},
 		function (message, next) {
 			Messaging.notifyUsersInRoom(socket.uid, data.roomId, message);
@@ -110,6 +100,18 @@ SocketModules.chats.send = function(socket, data, callback) {
 	], callback);
 };
 
+function rateLimitExceeded(socket) {
+	var now = Date.now();
+	socket.lastChatMessageTime = socket.lastChatMessageTime || 0;
+	var delay = meta.config.hasOwnProperty('chatMessageDelay') ? parseInt(meta.config.chatMessageDelay, 10) : 200;
+	if (now - socket.lastChatMessageTime < delay) {
+		return true;
+	} else {
+		socket.lastChatMessageTime = now;
+	}
+	return false;
+}
+
 SocketModules.chats.loadRoom = function(socket, data, callback) {
 	if (!data || !data.roomId) {
 		return callback(new Error('[[error:invalid-data]]'));
diff --git a/src/views/admin/settings/chat.tpl b/src/views/admin/settings/chat.tpl
index 9926e25dbe..5f4d0b8315 100644
--- a/src/views/admin/settings/chat.tpl
+++ b/src/views/admin/settings/chat.tpl
@@ -22,6 +22,12 @@
 			<label>Maximum number of users in chat rooms</label>
 			<input type="text" class="form-control" value="0" data-field="maximumUsersInChatRoom">
 		</div>
+
+
+		<div class="form-group">
+			<label>Time between chat messages in milliseconds</label>
+			<input type="text" class="form-control" value="200" data-field="chatMessageDelay">
+		</div>
 	</div>
 </div>