diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a25e17955f..6554f2f733 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -33,13 +33,13 @@
     "build:bundle": "cross-env NODE_ENV=production webpack -p --progress",
     "build:bundle:dev": "webpack --optimize-occurence-order --progress",
     "build:electron": "npm run clean && npm run build && build -wml --ia32 --x64",
-    "build": "node scripts/babelcheck.js && npm run build:res && npm run build:bundle",
-    "build:dev": "node scripts/babelcheck.js && npm run build:res && npm run build:bundle:dev",
+    "build": "npm run build:res && npm run build:bundle",
+    "build:dev": "npm run build:res && npm run build:bundle:dev",
     "dist": "scripts/package.sh",
     "start:res": "node scripts/copy-res.js -w",
     "start:js": "webpack-dev-server --output-filename=bundles/_dev_/[name].js --output-chunk-file=bundles/_dev_/[name].js -w --progress",
     "start:js:prod": "cross-env NODE_ENV=production webpack-dev-server -w --progress",
-    "start": "node scripts/babelcheck.js && parallelshell \"npm run start:res\" \"npm run start:js\"",
+    "start": "parallelshell \"npm run start:res\" \"npm run start:js\"",
     "start:prod": "parallelshell \"npm run start:res\" \"npm run start:js:prod\"",
     "lint": "eslint src/",
     "lintall": "eslint src/ test/",
diff --git a/scripts/babelcheck.js b/scripts/babelcheck.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 89f5cac554..0000000000
--- a/scripts/babelcheck.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env node
-
-var exec = require('child_process').exec;
-
-// Makes sure the babel executable in the path is babel 6 (or greater), not
-// babel 5, which it is if you upgrade from an older version of react-sdk and
-// run 'npm install' since the package has changed to babel-cli, so 'babel'
-// remains installed and the executable in node_modules/.bin remains as babel
-// 5.
-
-// This script is duplicated from matrix-react-sdk because it can't reliably
-// be pulled in from react-sdk while npm install is failing, as it will do
-// if the environment is in the erroneous state this script checks for.
-
-exec("babel -V", function (error, stdout, stderr) {
-    if ((error && error.code) || parseInt(stdout.substr(0,1), 10) < 6) {
-        console.log("\033[31m\033[1m"+
-            '*****************************************\n'+
-            '* vector-web has moved to babel 6       *\n'+
-            '* Please "rm -rf node_modules && npm i" *\n'+
-            '* then restore links as appropriate     *\n'+
-            '*****************************************\n'+
-        "\033[91m");
-        process.exit(1);
-    }
-});