diff --git a/lib/manager/maven/extract.ts b/lib/manager/maven/extract.ts
index 65d10b3899036a..bf535024ef3f3f 100644
--- a/lib/manager/maven/extract.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/maven/extract.ts
@@ -179,9 +179,8 @@ export function extractPackage(rawContent: string, packageFile: string = null) {
     });
   }
 
-  if (packageFile && project.childNamed('parent')) {
-    const parentPath =
-      project.valueWithPath('parent.relativePath') || '../pom.xml';
+  const parentPath = project.valueWithPath('parent.relativePath');
+  if (parentPath) {
     result.parent = resolveParentFile(packageFile, parentPath);
   }
 
diff --git a/test/manager/maven/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap b/test/manager/maven/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap
index 0c5c78c660ec92..c9dc7c46550160 100644
--- a/test/manager/maven/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap
+++ b/test/manager/maven/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap
@@ -143,7 +143,6 @@ Array [
       },
     ],
     "packageFile": "random.pom.xml",
-    "parent": "../pom.xml",
   },
 ]
 `;