diff --git a/lib/manager/maven/extract.ts b/lib/manager/maven/extract.ts
index bf535024ef3f3f271b26f97fcd26b83943e4a070..65d10b3899036a4bd86a21e34f0af7245b138afa 100644
--- a/lib/manager/maven/extract.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/maven/extract.ts
@@ -179,8 +179,9 @@ export function extractPackage(rawContent: string, packageFile: string = null) {
     });
   }
 
-  const parentPath = project.valueWithPath('parent.relativePath');
-  if (parentPath) {
+  if (packageFile && project.childNamed('parent')) {
+    const parentPath =
+      project.valueWithPath('parent.relativePath') || '../pom.xml';
     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 c9dc7c465501603a453e3d991c622b8a420cf856..0c5c78c660ec923a5885794635f4aeb4787efdb0 100644
--- a/test/manager/maven/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap
+++ b/test/manager/maven/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ Array [
       },
     ],
     "packageFile": "random.pom.xml",
+    "parent": "../pom.xml",
   },
 ]
 `;