diff --git a/controllers/monitoring/monitoring_controller.go b/controllers/monitoring/monitoring_controller.go
index e931d4bfc..12e31dcb2 100644
--- a/controllers/monitoring/monitoring_controller.go
+++ b/controllers/monitoring/monitoring_controller.go
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ func (r *Reconciler) reconcile(ctx context.Context, clh *helper.Client, desired
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-	} else if !helper.IsSubSet(nsExist.ObjectMeta.Labels, desiredNs.ObjectMeta.Labels) {
+	} else if !helper.SkipOwnership(nsExist) && !helper.IsSubSet(nsExist.ObjectMeta.Labels, desiredNs.ObjectMeta.Labels) {
 		err = r.Update(ctx, desiredNs)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
diff --git a/pkg/helper/client_helper.go b/pkg/helper/client_helper.go
index 3233282c6..ac8f17854 100644
--- a/pkg/helper/client_helper.go
+++ b/pkg/helper/client_helper.go
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ func (c *Client) CreateOwned(ctx context.Context, obj client.Object) error {
 		log.Error(err, "Failed to set controller reference")
 		return err
 	}
+	AddOwnedLabel(obj)
 	kind := reflect.TypeOf(obj).String()
 	log.Info("CREATING a new "+kind, "Namespace", obj.GetNamespace(), "Name", obj.GetName())
 	err = c.Create(ctx, obj)
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ func (c *Client) UpdateOwned(ctx context.Context, old, obj client.Object) error
 	return nil
 }
 
-// UpdateIfOwned is an helper function that updates an object if currently owned by the operator
+// UpdateIfOwned is an helper function that updates an object if currently owned and managed by the operator
 func (c *Client) UpdateIfOwned(ctx context.Context, old, obj client.Object) error {
 	log := log.FromContext(ctx)
 
diff --git a/pkg/helper/flowcollector.go b/pkg/helper/flowcollector.go
index 05c6023fd..90c8072ee 100644
--- a/pkg/helper/flowcollector.go
+++ b/pkg/helper/flowcollector.go
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ import (
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
 )
 
+const (
+	netobservManagedLabel = "netobserv-managed"
+)
+
 func GetSampling(spec *flowslatest.FlowCollectorSpec) int {
 	if spec.Agent.EBPF.Sampling == nil {
 		return 50
@@ -173,7 +177,26 @@ func PtrInt32(i *int32) int32 {
 	return *i
 }
 
+func AddOwnedLabel(obj client.Object) {
+	// set netobserv-managed label to true so users can easily switch to false if they want to skip ownership
+	labels := obj.GetLabels()
+	if labels == nil {
+		labels = make(map[string]string)
+	}
+	labels[netobservManagedLabel] = "true"
+	obj.SetLabels(labels)
+}
+
+func SkipOwnership(obj client.Object) bool {
+	// ownership is ignored if netobserv-managed label is explicitly set to false
+	labels := obj.GetLabels()
+	return labels != nil && labels[netobservManagedLabel] == "false"
+}
+
 func IsOwned(obj client.Object) bool {
+	if SkipOwnership(obj) {
+		return false
+	}
 	refs := obj.GetOwnerReferences()
 	return len(refs) > 0 && strings.HasPrefix(refs[0].APIVersion, flowslatest.GroupVersion.Group)
 }