diff --git a/contrib/hadoop/pom.xml b/contrib/hadoop/pom.xml
index 8e5a207d1215..05212e4ce4e4 100644
--- a/contrib/hadoop/pom.xml
+++ b/contrib/hadoop/pom.xml
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@
           </dependency>
         </dependencies>
         <configuration>
-          <configLocation>../../checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
+          <configLocation>../../sdks/java/checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
           <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>
           <failOnViolation>true</failOnViolation>
           <includeTestSourceDirectory>true</includeTestSourceDirectory>
diff --git a/contrib/join-library/pom.xml b/contrib/join-library/pom.xml
index df39545dacb7..10f663d27f1a 100644
--- a/contrib/join-library/pom.xml
+++ b/contrib/join-library/pom.xml
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@
         <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
         <version>2.17</version>
         <configuration>
-          <configLocation>../../checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
+          <configLocation>../../sdks/java/checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
           <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>
           <failOnViolation>true</failOnViolation>
           <includeTestSourceDirectory>true</includeTestSourceDirectory>
diff --git a/examples/java/pom.xml b/examples/java/pom.xml
index b762c844f8f9..2e158cb8ec55 100644
--- a/examples/java/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/java/pom.xml
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@
           </dependency>
         </dependencies>
         <configuration>
-          <configLocation>../../checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
+          <configLocation>../../sdks/java/checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
           <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>
           <failOnViolation>true</failOnViolation>
           <includeTestSourceDirectory>true</includeTestSourceDirectory>
diff --git a/examples/java8/pom.xml b/examples/java8/pom.xml
index 7d55c317d277..c8c413441ded 100644
--- a/examples/java8/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/java8/pom.xml
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@
           </dependency>
         </dependencies>
         <configuration>
-          <configLocation>../../checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
+          <configLocation>../../sdks/java/checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
           <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>
           <failOnViolation>true</failOnViolation>
           <includeTestSourceDirectory>true</includeTestSourceDirectory>
diff --git a/checkstyle.xml b/sdks/java/checkstyle.xml
similarity index 100%
rename from checkstyle.xml
rename to sdks/java/checkstyle.xml
diff --git a/sdks/java/core/pom.xml b/sdks/java/core/pom.xml
index f788c0d27407..6595a214e4f8 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/pom.xml
+++ b/sdks/java/core/pom.xml
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@
           </dependency>
         </dependencies>
         <configuration>
-          <configLocation>../../../checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
+          <configLocation>../checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
           <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>
           <failOnViolation>true</failOnViolation>
           <includeResources>false</includeResources>
diff --git a/sdks/java/java8tests/pom.xml b/sdks/java/java8tests/pom.xml
index 61e4785c3efe..59e2843119fd 100644
--- a/sdks/java/java8tests/pom.xml
+++ b/sdks/java/java8tests/pom.xml
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
           </dependency>
         </dependencies>
         <configuration>
-          <configLocation>../../../checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
+          <configLocation>../checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
           <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>
           <failOnViolation>true</failOnViolation>
           <includeTestSourceDirectory>true</includeTestSourceDirectory>