diff --git a/pip/utils/filesystem.py b/pip/utils/filesystem.py
index 348662364..25ad51660 100644
--- a/pip/utils/filesystem.py
+++ b/pip/utils/filesystem.py
@@ -1,12 +1,28 @@
 import os
 import os.path
 
+from pip.compat import get_path_uid
+
 
 def check_path_owner(path):
+    # If we don't have a way to check the effective uid of this process, then
+    # we'll just assume that we own the directory.
+    if not hasattr(os, "geteuid"):
+        return True
+
     previous = None
     while path != previous:
         if os.path.lexists(path):
-            # Check if path is writable
-            return os.access(path, os.W_OK)
+            # Check if path is writable by current user.
+            if os.geteuid() == 0:
+                # Special handling for root user in order to handle properly
+                # cases where users use sudo without -H flag.
+                try:
+                    path_uid = get_path_uid(path)
+                except OSError:
+                    return False
+                return path_uid == 0
+            else:
+                return os.access(path, os.W_OK)
         else:
             previous, path = path, os.path.dirname(path)