diff --git a/configs/development.ini b/configs/development.ini
--- a/configs/development.ini
+++ b/configs/development.ini
@@ -579,6 +579,9 @@ svn.proxy.location_root = /
 ## Command to reload the mod dav svn configuration on change.
 ## Example: `/etc/init.d/apache2 reload`
 #svn.proxy.reload_cmd = /etc/init.d/apache2 reload
+## If the timeout expires before the reload command finishes, the command will
+## be killed. Setting it to zero means no timeout. Defaults to 10 seconds.
+#svn.proxy.reload_timeout = 10
 
 
 ################################
diff --git a/configs/production.ini b/configs/production.ini
--- a/configs/production.ini
+++ b/configs/production.ini
@@ -550,6 +550,9 @@ svn.proxy.location_root = /
 ## Command to reload the mod dav svn configuration on change.
 ## Example: `/etc/init.d/apache2 reload`
 #svn.proxy.reload_cmd = /etc/init.d/apache2 reload
+## If the timeout expires before the reload command finishes, the command will
+## be killed. Setting it to zero means no timeout. Defaults to 10 seconds.
+#svn.proxy.reload_timeout = 10
 
 
 ################################
diff --git a/rhodecode/svn_support/__init__.py b/rhodecode/svn_support/__init__.py
--- a/rhodecode/svn_support/__init__.py
+++ b/rhodecode/svn_support/__init__.py
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ import os
 # Do not use `from rhodecode import events` here, it will be overridden by the
 # events module in this package due to pythons import mechanism.
 from rhodecode.events import RepoGroupEvent
-from rhodecode.config.middleware import _bool_setting, _string_setting
+from rhodecode.config.middleware import (
+    _bool_setting, _string_setting, _int_setting)
 
 from .events import ModDavSvnConfigChange
 from .subscribers import generate_config_subscriber, AsyncSubprocessSubscriber
@@ -56,13 +57,17 @@ def _sanitize_settings_and_apply_default
     """
     Set defaults, convert to python types and validate settings.
     """
-    # Convert bool settings from string to bool.
     _bool_setting(settings, config_keys.generate_config, 'false')
     _bool_setting(settings, config_keys.list_parent_path, 'true')
+    _int_setting(settings, config_keys.reload_timeout, 10)
     _string_setting(settings, config_keys.config_file_path, '', lower=False)
     _string_setting(settings, config_keys.location_root, '/', lower=False)
     _string_setting(settings, config_keys.reload_command, '', lower=False)
 
+    # Convert negative timeout values to zero.
+    if settings[config_keys.reload_timeout] < 0:
+        settings[config_keys.reload_timeout] = 0
+
     # Append path separator to location root.
     settings[config_keys.location_root] = _append_path_sep(
         settings[config_keys.location_root])
diff --git a/rhodecode/svn_support/config_keys.py b/rhodecode/svn_support/config_keys.py
--- a/rhodecode/svn_support/config_keys.py
+++ b/rhodecode/svn_support/config_keys.py
@@ -26,3 +26,4 @@ generate_config = 'svn.proxy.generate_co
 list_parent_path = 'svn.proxy.list_parent_path'
 location_root = 'svn.proxy.location_root'
 reload_command = 'svn.proxy.reload_cmd'
+reload_timeout = 'svn.proxy.reload_timeout'