diff --git a/R/pkg/R/sparkR.R b/R/pkg/R/sparkR.R
index 61773ed3ee8c..7955cc54d4b5 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/sparkR.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/sparkR.R
@@ -363,6 +363,7 @@ sparkR.session <- function(
   ...) {
 
   sparkConfigMap <- convertNamedListToEnv(sparkConfig)
+
   namedParams <- list(...)
   if (length(namedParams) > 0) {
     paramMap <- convertNamedListToEnv(namedParams)
@@ -400,11 +401,16 @@ sparkR.session <- function(
                 sparkConfigMap)
   } else {
     jsc <- get(".sparkRjsc", envir = .sparkREnv)
+    # NOTE(shivaram): Pass in a tempdir that is optionally used if the user has not
+    # overridden this. See SPARK-18817 for more details
+    warehouseTmpDir <- file.path(tempdir(), "spark-warehouse")
+
     sparkSession <- callJStatic("org.apache.spark.sql.api.r.SQLUtils",
                                 "getOrCreateSparkSession",
                                 jsc,
                                 sparkConfigMap,
-                                enableHiveSupport)
+                                enableHiveSupport,
+                                warehouseTmpDir)
     assign(".sparkRsession", sparkSession, envir = .sparkREnv)
   }
   sparkSession
diff --git a/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R b/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R
index 7c096597fea6..3403410a7d12 100644
--- a/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R
+++ b/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R
@@ -2890,6 +2890,20 @@ test_that("Collect on DataFrame when NAs exists at the top of a timestamp column
   expect_equal(class(ldf3$col3), c("POSIXct", "POSIXt"))
 })
 
+test_that("Default warehouse dir should be set to tempdir", {
+  setHiveContext(sc)
+
+  # Create a temporary database and a table in it
+  sql("CREATE DATABASE db1")
+  sql("USE db1")
+  sql("CREATE TABLE boxes (width INT, length INT, height INT)")
+  # spark-warehouse should be written only tempdir() and not current working directory
+  expect_true(file.exists(file.path(tempdir(), "spark-warehouse", "db1.db", "boxes")))
+  sql("DROP TABLE boxes")
+  sql("DROP DATABASE db1")
+  unsetHiveContext(sc)
+})
+
 unlink(parquetPath)
 unlink(orcPath)
 unlink(jsonPath)
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/api/r/SQLUtils.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/api/r/SQLUtils.scala
index a4c5bf756cd5..e34f35e4d5b7 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/api/r/SQLUtils.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/api/r/SQLUtils.scala
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.GenericRowWithSchema
 import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.command.ShowTablesCommand
 import org.apache.spark.sql.internal.StaticSQLConf.CATALOG_IMPLEMENTATION
+import org.apache.spark.sql.internal.StaticSQLConf.WAREHOUSE_PATH
 import org.apache.spark.sql.types._
 
 private[sql] object SQLUtils extends Logging {
@@ -46,7 +47,17 @@ private[sql] object SQLUtils extends Logging {
   def getOrCreateSparkSession(
       jsc: JavaSparkContext,
       sparkConfigMap: JMap[Object, Object],
-      enableHiveSupport: Boolean): SparkSession = {
+      enableHiveSupport: Boolean,
+      warehouseDir: String): SparkSession = {
+
+    // Check if SparkContext of sparkConfigMap contains spark.sql.warehouse.dir
+    // If not, set it to warehouseDir chosen by the R process.
+    // NOTE: We need to do this before creating the SparkSession.
+    val sqlWarehouseKey = WAREHOUSE_PATH.key
+    if (!jsc.sc.conf.contains(sqlWarehouseKey) && !sparkConfigMap.containsKey(sqlWarehouseKey)) {
+      jsc.sc.conf.set(sqlWarehouseKey, warehouseDir)
+    }
+
     val spark = if (SparkSession.hiveClassesArePresent && enableHiveSupport
         && jsc.sc.conf.get(CATALOG_IMPLEMENTATION.key, "hive").toLowerCase == "hive") {
       SparkSession.builder().sparkContext(withHiveExternalCatalog(jsc.sc)).getOrCreate()
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/api/r/SQLUtilsSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/api/r/SQLUtilsSuite.scala
index f54e23e3aa6c..40feb0c99c07 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/api/r/SQLUtilsSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/api/r/SQLUtilsSuite.scala
@@ -17,13 +17,23 @@
 
 package org.apache.spark.sql.api.r
 
-import org.apache.spark.sql.test.SharedSQLContext
+import java.util.HashMap
 
-class SQLUtilsSuite extends SharedSQLContext {
+import org.apache.spark.{SparkConf, SparkContext, SparkFunSuite}
+import org.apache.spark.api.java.JavaSparkContext
+import org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession
+import org.apache.spark.sql.test.SharedSQLContext
 
-  import testImplicits._
+class SQLUtilsSuite extends SparkFunSuite {
 
   test("dfToCols should collect and transpose a data frame") {
+    val sparkSession = SparkSession.builder()
+      .master("local")
+      .config("spark.ui.enabled", value = false)
+      .getOrCreate()
+
+    import sparkSession.implicits._
+
     val df = Seq(
       (1, 2, 3),
       (4, 5, 6)
@@ -33,6 +43,19 @@ class SQLUtilsSuite extends SharedSQLContext {
       Array(2, 5),
       Array(3, 6)
     ))
+    sparkSession.stop()
   }
 
+  test("warehouse path is set correctly by R constructor") {
+    SparkSession.clearDefaultSession()
+    val conf = new SparkConf().setAppName("test").setMaster("local")
+    val sparkContext2 = new SparkContext(conf)
+    val jsc = new JavaSparkContext(sparkContext2)
+    val warehouseDir = "/tmp/test-warehouse-dir"
+    val session = SQLUtils.getOrCreateSparkSession(
+      jsc, new HashMap[Object, Object], false, warehouseDir)
+    assert(session.sessionState.conf.warehousePath == warehouseDir)
+    session.stop()
+    SparkSession.clearDefaultSession()
+  }
 }