diff --git a/build.gradle.kts b/build.gradle.kts
index d96e77a4c78c..0adb29058479 100644
--- a/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/build.gradle.kts
@@ -647,6 +647,22 @@ tasks.register("checkSetup") {
   dependsOn(":examples:java:wordCount")
 }
 
+// if not disabled make spotlessApply dependency of compileJava and compileTestJava
+val disableSpotlessCheck: String by project
+val isSpotlessDisabled = project.hasProperty("disableSpotlessCheck") &&
+        disableSpotlessCheck == "true"
+if (!isSpotlessDisabled) {
+  subprojects {
+    afterEvaluate {
+      tasks.findByName("spotlessApply")?.let {
+        listOf("compileJava", "compileTestJava").forEach {
+          t -> tasks.findByName(t)?.let { f -> f.dependsOn("spotlessApply") }
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 // Generates external transform config
 project.tasks.register("generateExternalTransformsConfig") {
   dependsOn(":sdks:python:generateExternalTransformsConfig")
diff --git a/runners/flink/flink_runner.gradle b/runners/flink/flink_runner.gradle
index d13e1c5faf6e..be39d4e0b012 100644
--- a/runners/flink/flink_runner.gradle
+++ b/runners/flink/flink_runner.gradle
@@ -422,3 +422,8 @@ createPipelineOptionsTableTask('Python')
 // Update the pipeline options documentation before running the tests
 test.dependsOn(generatePipelineOptionsTableJava)
 test.dependsOn(generatePipelineOptionsTablePython)
+
+// delegate spotlessApply to :runners:flink:spotlessApply
+tasks.named("spotlessApply") {
+  dependsOn ":runners:flink:spotlessApply"
+}