2
per month. Also, Gary and Lela DeCock testif ied that they be lieved
the late fee to be only $5 per month. The District Court found
that the DeCocks did not owe $374. The court found that the late
fee was $5 per month and the DeCocks had paid late on four months.
The court found that the DeCocks owed a total of $20 in late fees
and were not responsible for the costs of the hydrant repair. We
will not disturb the District Court's findings if they are
supported by substantial credible evidence. Mehl v. Mehl (1990),
241 Mont. 310, 786 P.2d 1173. We conclude that the District
Court's finding that the DeCocks owed only $20 is supported by
substantial credible evidence.
Section 70-24-422(2), MCA, allows a landlord to evict a mobile
home tenant by providing fifteen-day notice after a tenant fails to
pay rent. However, a landlord must give correct notice to evict a
tenant pursuant to this statute. When Swenson served the DeCocks
with notice, the DeCocks' rent payments were current and they
merely owed $20 in late fees. Demanding $374, nearly twenty times
what was actually owed, did not constitute proper or correct
notice. Thus, the fifteen-day period did not begin to run. We
conclude the District Court properly quashed the eviction and
properly determined that the tenancy was not terminated.
Swenson also claims that the District Court erred in finding
that the DeCocks were not responsible for damage to the water
hydrant. The court's findings must be based on substantial
credible evidence. Mehl
-I 786 P.2d at 1175. Gary DeCock testified
that the hydrant leaked when his family moved their mobile home