Wellington landlord promises $501 scholarship to straight A tenants

Naginbhai Neil Patel posted his property to Trade Me offering the scholarship.
Naginbhai Neil Patel posted his property to Trade Me offering the scholarship. Photo credit: Trade Me

A Wellington landlord is promising to give a scholarship to prospective tenants if they maintain stellar university grades.

Naginbhai Neil Patel posted a TradeMe advertisement for his Newtown property, and said the house comes with a $501 scholarship for any student who receives straight As for the full academic year during the tenancy.

Patel is also promising a $50 Four Square voucher to tenants who successfully help him fill his other leased properties.

Patel told Stuff the scholarship is to encourage students to study hard and achieve high goals in life.

The reason it is $501 and not $500 is because Indian mythology says the extra dollar is for God.

His tenants will have to prove at the end of the year they received straight As is all of their core courses to receive the money.

But for students who just miss out on top marks, he'll give them $301 as a consolation prize.

"A lot of students are very talented and a lot of students need encouragement," he said.

However, the offer seems "too good to be true" for the Victoria University of Wellington Student's Association president, according to Stuff. 

"He's obviously targeting students with this tactic," Geo Robrigado told Stuff.

Robrigado hopes "these sort of tactics" don't become a regular occurrence for landlords when attracting tenants.

Patel told Stuff Robrigado should "be positive" and willing to help out students.