diff --git a/actions/actions.py b/actions/actions.py
index 083d262a..15147b76 100755
--- a/actions/actions.py
+++ b/actions/actions.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ def _add_path(path):
     if path not in sys.path:
         sys.path.insert(1, path)
 
+
 _add_path(_hooks)
 _add_path(_root)
 
diff --git a/actions/openstack_upgrade.py b/actions/openstack_upgrade.py
index aca6b699..103324b4 100755
--- a/actions/openstack_upgrade.py
+++ b/actions/openstack_upgrade.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ def _add_path(path):
     if path not in sys.path:
         sys.path.insert(1, path)
 
+
 _add_path(_hooks)
 _add_path(_root)
 
@@ -56,5 +57,6 @@ def openstack_upgrade():
         os.execl('./hooks/config-changed-postupgrade',
                  'config-changed-postupgrade')
 
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     openstack_upgrade()
diff --git a/actions/security_checklist.py b/actions/security_checklist.py
index d7a6c27f..3bfd9c43 100755
--- a/actions/security_checklist.py
+++ b/actions/security_checklist.py
@@ -175,5 +175,6 @@ def main():
         [config['config_path'], config['config_file']])
     return audits.action_parse_results(audits.run(config))
 
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     sys.exit(main())
diff --git a/hooks/keystone_utils.py b/hooks/keystone_utils.py
index c790c1b0..7b0d1488 100644
--- a/hooks/keystone_utils.py
+++ b/hooks/keystone_utils.py
@@ -881,7 +881,7 @@ def get_admin_token():
             if l.split(' ')[0] == 'admin_token':
                 try:
                     return l.split('=')[1].strip()
-                except:
+                except Exception:
                     error_out('Could not parse admin_token line from %s' %
                               KEYSTONE_CONF)
     error_out('Could not find admin_token line in %s' % KEYSTONE_CONF)
@@ -2195,7 +2195,7 @@ def check_extra_for_assess_status(configs):
     if relation_ids('ha'):
         try:
             get_hacluster_config()
-        except:
+        except Exception:
             return ('blocked',
                     'hacluster missing configuration: '
                     'vip, vip_iface, vip_cidr')
diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index 7d9c2587..44b50231 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 charm-tools>=2.4.4
 requests>=2.18.4
 mock>=1.2
-flake8>=2.2.4,<=2.4.1
+flake8>=2.2.4
 stestr>=2.2.0
 coverage>=4.5.2
 pyudev              # for ceph-* charm unit tests (need to fix the ceph-* charm unit tests/mocking)
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 20dbbfc5..355780fa 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -111,5 +111,5 @@ commands =
     functest-run-suite --keep-model --bundle {posargs}
 
 [flake8]
-ignore = E402,E226
+ignore = E402,E226,W504
 exclude = */charmhelpers
diff --git a/unit_tests/__init__.py b/unit_tests/__init__.py
index c7dc9d98..ca8730f6 100644
--- a/unit_tests/__init__.py
+++ b/unit_tests/__init__.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ def _add_path(path):
     if path not in sys.path:
         sys.path.insert(1, path)
 
+
 _add_path(_actions)
 _add_path(_hooks)
 _add_path(_charmhelpers)
diff --git a/unit_tests/test_actions.py b/unit_tests/test_actions.py
index 61e9ce77..40933538 100644
--- a/unit_tests/test_actions.py
+++ b/unit_tests/test_actions.py
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ from test_utils import CharmTestCase
 with patch('charmhelpers.contrib.openstack.utils.'
            'snap_install_requested') as snap_install_requested, \
         patch('keystone_utils.register_configs') as configs:
-        snap_install_requested.return_value = False
-        configs.return_value = 'test-config'
-        import actions.actions
+    snap_install_requested.return_value = False
+    configs.return_value = 'test-config'
+    import actions.actions
 
 
 class PauseTestCase(CharmTestCase):