diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 86888de6..971fc097 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -56,8 +56,8 @@ subprojects {
 	apply plugin: 'propdeps-maven'
 	apply plugin: 'maven'
 
-	sourceCompatibility = 1.7
-	targetCompatibility = 1.7
+	sourceCompatibility = 1.8
+	targetCompatibility = 1.8
 
 	dependencyManagement {
 		imports {
diff --git a/docs/src/docs/asciidoc/getting-started.adoc b/docs/src/docs/asciidoc/getting-started.adoc
index 36ca53bf..a70d92f4 100644
--- a/docs/src/docs/asciidoc/getting-started.adoc
+++ b/docs/src/docs/asciidoc/getting-started.adoc
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ If you want to jump straight in, a number of sample applications are available:
 
 Spring REST Docs has the following minimum requirements:
 
-- Java 7
+- Java 8
 - Spring Framework 4.3
 
 Additionally, the `spring-restdocs-restassured` module has the following minimum
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index 9f5ebc4d..56f12d41 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-org.gradle.jvmargs=-XX:MaxPermSize=512M
 version=2.0.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT
 org.gradle.daemon=false
diff --git a/samples/rest-assured/build.gradle b/samples/rest-assured/build.gradle
index 5d33a0d4..2ec2bc0d 100644
--- a/samples/rest-assured/build.gradle
+++ b/samples/rest-assured/build.gradle
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ repositories {
 
 group = 'com.example'
 
-sourceCompatibility = 1.7
-targetCompatibility = 1.7
+sourceCompatibility = 1.8
+targetCompatibility = 1.8
 
 ext {
 	snippetsDir = file('build/generated-snippets')
diff --git a/samples/rest-notes-slate/build.gradle b/samples/rest-notes-slate/build.gradle
index 0c3ab1a2..560f68d4 100644
--- a/samples/rest-notes-slate/build.gradle
+++ b/samples/rest-notes-slate/build.gradle
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@ repositories {
 
 group = 'com.example'
 
-sourceCompatibility = 1.7
-targetCompatibility = 1.7
+sourceCompatibility = 1.8
+targetCompatibility = 1.8
 
 ext {
 	snippetsDir = file('build/generated-snippets')
diff --git a/samples/rest-notes-spring-data-rest/pom.xml b/samples/rest-notes-spring-data-rest/pom.xml
index f87e0044..818e1e00 100644
--- a/samples/rest-notes-spring-data-rest/pom.xml
+++ b/samples/rest-notes-spring-data-rest/pom.xml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 
 	<properties>
 		<project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
-		<java.version>1.7</java.version>
+		<java.version>1.8</java.version>
 		<spring-restdocs.version>2.0.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT</spring-restdocs.version>
 	</properties>
 
diff --git a/samples/rest-notes-spring-hateoas/build.gradle b/samples/rest-notes-spring-hateoas/build.gradle
index 5b6606cd..2e613b50 100644
--- a/samples/rest-notes-spring-hateoas/build.gradle
+++ b/samples/rest-notes-spring-hateoas/build.gradle
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ repositories {
 
 group = 'com.example'
 
-sourceCompatibility = 1.7
-targetCompatibility = 1.7
+sourceCompatibility = 1.8
+targetCompatibility = 1.8
 
 ext {
 	snippetsDir = file('build/generated-snippets')
diff --git a/samples/testng/build.gradle b/samples/testng/build.gradle
index 8187c56b..7386a59c 100644
--- a/samples/testng/build.gradle
+++ b/samples/testng/build.gradle
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ repositories {
 
 group = 'com.example'
 
-sourceCompatibility = 1.7
-targetCompatibility = 1.7
+sourceCompatibility = 1.8
+targetCompatibility = 1.8
 
 ext {
 	snippetsDir = file('build/generated-snippets')