diff --git a/docs/UserGuide/src/main/markdown/frontend.md b/docs/UserGuide/src/main/markdown/frontend.md
index a25b38c7f84..30b194e1033 100644
--- a/docs/UserGuide/src/main/markdown/frontend.md
+++ b/docs/UserGuide/src/main/markdown/frontend.md
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ Chapter 3. Frontend
     * [Deleting files and directories](#deleting-files-and-directories)
     * [Creating directories](#creating-directories)
     * [Moving and renaming](#moving-and-renaming)
+    * [Changing group-ownership](#changing-group-ownership)
     * [Modifying QoS](#modifying-qos)
     * [Managing extended attributes](#managing-extended-attributes)
 + [QoS Management](#qos-management)
@@ -907,6 +908,50 @@ code, and the response entity is the JSON object:
 }
 ```
 
+### Changing group-ownership
+
+The POSIX permission model describes how a file or directory has two
+ownerships: a personal (or user) owner and a group owner.  These two
+identities are used to determine which operations any individual is
+allowed to make.
+
+A common goal is to grant specific access to a file or directory to a
+group of people the people outside this group are denied; for example,
+making a file readable only to members of a group.  This is possible
+by establishing a group (within dCache) that represents the target
+group of people, and assign the corresponding gid as group-owner of
+the file or directory.  The desired access may then be specified for
+the group-owner.
+
+Sometimes a file or directory has the wrong group-owner: either
+because of changing permissions policy or the file was uploaded using
+a client that does not allow specifying the desired group-owner.  In
+these circumstances, the group-owner must be changed.
+
+You are only allowed to change the group-ownership of files or
+directories you own (as the personal- or user owner).  You are also
+only allowed to change group-ownership to a group of which you are
+already a member.
+
+Changing group-ownership is done by making a POST request to the
+resource representing the file or directory; for example, to change
+the group-ownership of the file `/Users/paul/my-data`, the POST
+request would target `/api/v1/namespace/Users/paul/my-data`.
+
+The POST request must contain a JSON object with the `action` property
+set to `chgrp`, and the `gid` property containing an integer value,
+which is the desired group owner.
+
+The following example requests the target have gid 1000 as the new
+group-owner:
+
+```json
+{
+    "action": "chgrp",
+    "gid": 1000
+}
+```
+
 ### Modifying QoS
 
 Each file or directory has a corresponding QoS value.  To modify this
diff --git a/modules/dcache-frontend/src/main/java/org/dcache/restful/resources/namespace/FileResources.java b/modules/dcache-frontend/src/main/java/org/dcache/restful/resources/namespace/FileResources.java
index dcf90239755..c1a01c31b4f 100644
--- a/modules/dcache-frontend/src/main/java/org/dcache/restful/resources/namespace/FileResources.java
+++ b/modules/dcache-frontend/src/main/java/org/dcache/restful/resources/namespace/FileResources.java
@@ -301,7 +301,15 @@ public Response cmrResources(@ApiParam(value="Path of file or directory to be mo
                                              + "where the JSON Object's key is "
                                              + "the attribute name and the "
                                              + "corresponding JSON Object's "
-                                             + "value is this attribute's value.",
+                                             + "value is this attribute's value."
+                                             + "\n"
+                                             + "If action is 'chgrp' then the "
+                                             + "command requests the change of "
+                                             + "group-owner of the target file "
+                                             + "or directory.  The value of the "
+                                             + "JSON object 'gid' item is the "
+                                             + "numerical value of the desired "
+                                             + "new group-owner.",
                                          required = true,
                                          examples = @Example({
                                              @ExampleProperty(mediaType = "MV",
@@ -335,7 +343,12 @@ public Response cmrResources(@ApiParam(value="Path of file or directory to be mo
                                                          + "        \"attr-1\",\n"
                                                          + "        \"attr-2\"\n"
                                                          + "    ]\n"
-                                                         + "}")}))
+                                                         + "}"),
+                                             @ExampleProperty(mediaType = "CHGRP",
+                                                         value = "{\n"
+                                                             + "    \"action\" : \"chgrp\"\n"
+                                                             + "    \"gid\" : 1000\n"
+                                                             + "}")}))
                                  String requestPayload)
     {
         try {
@@ -391,6 +404,10 @@ public Response cmrResources(@ApiParam(value="Path of file or directory to be mo
                     }
                     pnfsHandler.writeExtendedAttribute(path, attributes, mode);
                     break;
+                case "chgrp":
+                    int gid = reqPayload.getInt("gid");
+                    pnfsHandler.setFileAttributes(path, FileAttributes.ofGid(gid));
+                    break;
             }
         } catch (FileNotFoundCacheException e) {
             throw new NotFoundException(e);