diff --git a/sdks/python/tox.ini b/sdks/python/tox.ini
index 31471b99aa748..941746a191758 100644
--- a/sdks/python/tox.ini
+++ b/sdks/python/tox.ini
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@ select = E3
 
 # Shared environment options.
 [testenv]
-# Ensure that we use the beam installed into our virtual env
+# Ensure that we use the beam installed into our virtual env.  This can be
+# overridden for envs that work directly on the source (see lint jobs)
 changedir = {envsitepackagesdir}
 args_are_paths = false
 # Set [] options for pip installation of apache-beam tarball.
@@ -279,6 +280,8 @@ commands =
 # Checks for py2 syntax errors
 deps =
   flake8==3.5.0
+# Run against the source directory.
+changedir = {toxinidir}
 commands =
   time {toxinidir}/scripts/run_mini_py2lint.sh
 
@@ -289,6 +292,8 @@ deps =
   pylint==1.9.3
   isort==4.2.15
   flake8==3.5.0
+# Run against the source directory.
+changedir = {toxinidir}
 commands =
   pylint --version
   time {toxinidir}/scripts/run_pylint_2to3.sh
@@ -300,6 +305,8 @@ deps =
   pylint==2.4.2
   isort==4.2.15
   flake8==3.5.0
+# Run against the source directory.
+changedir = {toxinidir}
 commands =
   pylint --version
   time {toxinidir}/scripts/run_pylint.sh