diff --git a/django/conf/project_template/project_name/settings.py-tpl b/django/conf/project_template/project_name/settings.py-tpl
index 64d32d7059..444c899b2b 100644
--- a/django/conf/project_template/project_name/settings.py-tpl
+++ b/django/conf/project_template/project_name/settings.py-tpl
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/{{ docs_version }}/ref/settings/
 from pathlib import Path
 
 # Build paths inside the project like this: BASE_DIR / 'subdir'.
-BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve(strict=True).parent.parent
+BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
 
 
 # Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/password_validation.py b/django/contrib/auth/password_validation.py
index 61a482fdad..845f4d86d5 100644
--- a/django/contrib/auth/password_validation.py
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/password_validation.py
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ class CommonPasswordValidator:
     https://gist.github.com/roycewilliams/281ce539915a947a23db17137d91aeb7
     The password list must be lowercased to match the comparison in validate().
     """
-    DEFAULT_PASSWORD_LIST_PATH = Path(__file__).resolve(strict=True).parent / 'common-passwords.txt.gz'
+    DEFAULT_PASSWORD_LIST_PATH = Path(__file__).resolve().parent / 'common-passwords.txt.gz'
 
     def __init__(self, password_list_path=DEFAULT_PASSWORD_LIST_PATH):
         try:
diff --git a/docs/howto/overriding-templates.txt b/docs/howto/overriding-templates.txt
index 71eb14b0c4..0f88069069 100644
--- a/docs/howto/overriding-templates.txt
+++ b/docs/howto/overriding-templates.txt
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ called ``blog``, which provides the templates ``blog/post.html`` and
 
     from pathlib import Path
 
-    BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve(strict=True).parent.parent
+    BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
 
     INSTALLED_APPS = [
         ...,
diff --git a/docs/releases/3.1.1.txt b/docs/releases/3.1.1.txt
index 83ff2b07d2..84f9020c53 100644
--- a/docs/releases/3.1.1.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/3.1.1.txt
@@ -43,3 +43,8 @@ Bugfixes
 * Fixed ``__in`` lookup on key transforms for
   :class:`~django.db.models.JSONField` with MariaDB, MySQL, Oracle, and SQLite
   (:ticket:`31936`).
+
+* Fixed a regression in Django 3.1 that caused permission errors in
+  ``CommonPasswordValidator`` and ``settings.py`` generated by the
+  :djadmin:`startproject` command, when user didn't have permissions to all
+  intermediate directories in a Django installation path (:ticket:`31912`).