diff --git a/docs/api-guide/exceptions.md b/docs/api-guide/exceptions.md
index 66e181737..5752d7cb7 100644
--- a/docs/api-guide/exceptions.md
+++ b/docs/api-guide/exceptions.md
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ Note that the exception handler will only be called for responses generated by r
 
 The **base class** for all exceptions raised inside REST framework.
 
-To provide a custom exception, subclass `APIException` and set the `.status_code` and `.default_detail` properties on the class.
+To provide a custom exception, subclass `APIException` and set the `.status_code`, `.default_detail` and `.detail_key` properties on the class.
 
 For example, if your API relies on a third party service that may sometimes be unreachable, you might want to implement an exception for the "503 Service Unavailable" HTTP response code.  You could do this like so:
 
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ For example, if your API relies on a third party service that may sometimes be u
     class ServiceUnavailable(APIException):
         status_code = 503
         default_detail = 'Service temporarily unavailable, try again later.'
+        detail_key = 'reason'
 
 ## ParseError
 
diff --git a/rest_framework/exceptions.py b/rest_framework/exceptions.py
index 5f774a9f3..ece1421ac 100644
--- a/rest_framework/exceptions.py
+++ b/rest_framework/exceptions.py
@@ -13,9 +13,13 @@ class APIException(Exception):
     """
     Base class for REST framework exceptions.
     Subclasses should provide `.status_code` and `.default_detail` properties.
+    Subclases can also override detail_key to provide a custom error key.
+    By default, django exceptions keep using 'detail' so if you want to be
+    consistent you'll need to also override them.
     """
     status_code = status.HTTP_500_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR
     default_detail = ''
+    detail_key = 'detail'
 
     def __init__(self, detail=None):
         self.detail = detail or self.default_detail
@@ -23,6 +27,7 @@ class APIException(Exception):
     def __str__(self):
         return self.detail
 
+
 class ParseError(APIException):
     status_code = status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST
     default_detail = 'Malformed request.'
diff --git a/rest_framework/views.py b/rest_framework/views.py
index a2668f2c0..6b3667e6e 100644
--- a/rest_framework/views.py
+++ b/rest_framework/views.py
@@ -62,10 +62,11 @@ def exception_handler(exc):
         if getattr(exc, 'wait', None):
             headers['X-Throttle-Wait-Seconds'] = '%d' % exc.wait
 
-        return Response({'detail': exc.detail},
+        return Response({exc.detail_key: exc.detail},
                         status=exc.status_code,
                         headers=headers)
 
+    # if using django's default exceptions, use detail as expected
     elif isinstance(exc, Http404):
         return Response({'detail': 'Not found'},
                         status=status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND)