diff --git a/config/alfresco/public-rest-context.xml b/config/alfresco/public-rest-context.xml
index c474679475..8265ddda86 100644
--- a/config/alfresco/public-rest-context.xml
+++ b/config/alfresco/public-rest-context.xml
@@ -535,6 +535,7 @@
     <bean id="queries" class="org.alfresco.rest.api.impl.QueriesImpl">
         <property name="nodes" ref="nodes"/>
         <property name="serviceRegistry" ref="ServiceRegistry"/>
+        <property name="termMinLength" value="3"/>
     </bean>
 
     <bean id="Queries" class="org.springframework.aop.framework.ProxyFactoryBean">
diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/rest/api/impl/QueriesImpl.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/rest/api/impl/QueriesImpl.java
index 6d0572b25b..5dd3349706 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/rest/api/impl/QueriesImpl.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/rest/api/impl/QueriesImpl.java
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ public class QueriesImpl implements Queries, InitializingBean
 
     private final static String QUERY_LIVE_SEARCH_NODES = "live-search-nodes";
 
-    private final static int TERM_MIN_LEN = 3; // review: should this be configurable system-wide (&/or per-tenant in the cloud) ?
+    private static int TERM_MIN_LEN = 3;
 
 
     private final static Map<String,QName> MAP_PARAM_SORT_QNAME;
@@ -95,6 +95,11 @@ public class QueriesImpl implements Queries, InitializingBean
         this.sr = sr;
     }
 
+    public void setTermMinLength(int termMinLength)
+    {
+        TERM_MIN_LEN = termMinLength;
+    }
+
     public void setNodes(Nodes nodes)
     {
         this.nodes = nodes;