diff --git a/lib/config.js b/lib/config.js
index 2d8bba9c8a9..2798eee8f51 100644
--- a/lib/config.js
+++ b/lib/config.js
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ function loadConfig(configToLoad) {
  * @private
  */
 function getPersonalConfig() {
-    var config = {},
+    var config,
         filename;
 
     if (PERSONAL_CONFIG_DIR) {
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ function getPersonalConfig() {
         }
     }
 
-    return config;
+    return config || {};
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/config-hierarchy/personal-config/home-folder-with-packagejson/package.json b/tests/fixtures/config-hierarchy/personal-config/home-folder-with-packagejson/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b113b49c495
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fixtures/config-hierarchy/personal-config/home-folder-with-packagejson/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+    "name": "foo",
+    "version": "1.0.0"
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/lib/config.js b/tests/lib/config.js
index 05d4a032472..513b46210bb 100644
--- a/tests/lib/config.js
+++ b/tests/lib/config.js
@@ -828,6 +828,28 @@ describe("Config", function() {
                 assert.deepEqual(actual, expected);
             });
 
+            it("should have an empty config if no local config was found and ~/package.json contains no eslintConfig section", function() {
+                var projectPath = getFixturePath("personal-config", "project-without-config"),
+                    homePath = getFixturePath("personal-config", "home-folder-with-packagejson"),
+                    filePath = getFixturePath("personal-config", "project-without-config", "foo.js");
+
+                getCwd.returns(projectPath);
+
+                var StubbedConfig = proxyquire("../../lib/config", { "user-home": homePath });
+
+                var config = new StubbedConfig({ cwd: process.cwd() }),
+                    actual = config.getConfig(filePath),
+                    expected = {
+                        parserOptions: {},
+                        env: {},
+                        globals: {},
+                        parser: void 0,
+                        rules: {}
+                    };
+
+                assert.deepEqual(actual, expected);
+            });
+
             it("should still load the project config if the current working directory is the same as the home folder", function() {
                 var projectPath = getFixturePath("personal-config", "project-with-config"),
                     filePath = getFixturePath("personal-config", "project-with-config", "subfolder", "foo.js");
diff --git a/tests/lib/file-finder.js b/tests/lib/file-finder.js
index f4cb918513d..0b05324fba6 100644
--- a/tests/lib/file-finder.js
+++ b/tests/lib/file-finder.js
@@ -235,11 +235,31 @@ describe("FileFinder", function() {
             });
         });
 
+        /**
+         * The intention of this test case is not clear to me. It seems
+         * to be a special case of "a file present in a parent directory" above.
+         * Apart from that: Searching for package.json up to the root
+         * is kind of non-deterministic for testing purposes. A unique file name
+         * and/or restricting the search up to the workspace root (not /) would
+         * be better. The original code assumed there will never be a package.json
+         * outside of the eslint workspace, but that cannot be guaranteed.
+         */
         describe("Not consider directory with expected file names", function() {
             it("should only find one package.json from the root", function() {
                 expected = path.join(process.cwd(), "package.json");
                 finder = new FileFinder("package.json", process.cwd());
                 actual = finder.findAllInDirectoryAndParents(fileFinderDir);
+
+                /**
+                 * Filter files outside of current workspace, otherwise test fails,
+                 * if there is for example a ~/package.json file.
+                 * In order to eliminate side effects of files located outside of
+                 * workspace this should be done for all test cases here.
+                 */
+                actual = actual.filter(function(file) {
+                    return (file || "").indexOf(process.cwd()) === 0;
+                });
+
                 assert.equal(actual, expected);
             });
         });