diff --git a/lib/platform/github/index.js b/lib/platform/github/index.js
index c9dc8163f0d3f69cb257e8630eb03bc728c5bb77..dba2a4c54dff30fa2bd3045ef76bf79588b9cfea 100644
--- a/lib/platform/github/index.js
+++ b/lib/platform/github/index.js
@@ -142,9 +142,6 @@ async function initRepo({
     // istanbul ignore if
     if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'test') {
       getBranchCommit(config.baseBranch); // warm the cache
-      if (!res.body.permissions.push) {
-        throw new Error('write-forbidden');
-      }
     }
     logger.debug(`${repository} default branch = ${config.baseBranch}`);
     // GitHub allows administrators to block certain types of merge, so we need to check it
@@ -172,9 +169,6 @@ async function initRepo({
     if (err.message.startsWith('Repository access blocked')) {
       throw new Error('blocked');
     }
-    if (err.message === 'write-forbidden') {
-      throw new Error('write-forbidden');
-    }
     logger.info(
       { err, message: err.message, body: res ? res.body : undefined },
       'Unknown GitHub initRepo error'
diff --git a/lib/platform/gitlab/index.js b/lib/platform/gitlab/index.js
index 55355c1c9ac688ba83dbff246be6782cb02cdb3a..2a9520bae5d513c8cccf705a6d9d65d63c21f7c4 100644
--- a/lib/platform/gitlab/index.js
+++ b/lib/platform/gitlab/index.js
@@ -93,15 +93,6 @@ async function initRepo({ repository, token, endpoint }) {
     config.defaultBranch = res.body.default_branch;
     config.baseBranch = config.defaultBranch;
     logger.debug(`${repository} default branch = ${config.baseBranch}`);
-    // istanbul ignore if
-    if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'test') {
-      if (
-        !res.body.permissions.project_access ||
-        res.body.permissions.project_access.access_level < 40
-      ) {
-        throw new Error('write-forbidden');
-      }
-    }
     // Discover our user email
     config.email = (await get(`user`)).body.email;
     delete config.prList;
diff --git a/lib/workers/repository/error.js b/lib/workers/repository/error.js
index a1ff1ebef0412d766842c84f1036466d6e1f9ca5..5f3557cd9dd5d31811c9ef75f9127383be63954a 100644
--- a/lib/workers/repository/error.js
+++ b/lib/workers/repository/error.js
@@ -28,10 +28,6 @@ async function handleError(config, err) {
     delete config.branchList; // eslint-disable-line no-param-reassign
     logger.info('Repository is forbidden');
     return err.message;
-  } else if (err.message === 'write-forbidden') {
-    delete config.branchList; // eslint-disable-line no-param-reassign
-    logger.error(`The token doesn't have write permissions to the repository`);
-    return err.message;
   } else if (err.message === 'not-found') {
     delete config.branchList; // eslint-disable-line no-param-reassign
     logger.error('Repository is not found');
diff --git a/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js b/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js
index 4db1659a4d25e21cc34eece0c3fb19de3741f389..992c3c4e9b42148f27a7657b33f2183af24bed88 100644
--- a/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js
+++ b/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ describe('workers/repository/error', () => {
       'blocked',
       'not-found',
       'forbidden',
-      'write-forbidden',
       'rate-limit-exceeded',
     ];
     errors.forEach(err => {