Filings Week Ending 2021 January 02

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2020-12-27 Search Period End: 2021-01-02 Earliest Case: 2020-12-28 Latest Case: 2020-12-31 Total Cases: 587 Total Transfers: 12 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 29.3% Of those, percentage pro se: 52.9% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Gilbertville Least stable with 10+ filings: Mansfield Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Bristol Cases per day: 97 Housing crisis baseline max cases per day (UCL): 130 Housing crisis baseline min cases per day (LCL): 44 The number of filings this period is not statistically different from the pre-pandemic housing crisis baseline. -- Courts (n) Count Percent central 109 18.6% northeast 109 18.6% eastern 86 14.7% western 83 14.1% southeast 79 13.5% metro_south 51 8.7% quincy district 13 2.2% waltham district 8 1.4% somerville district 6 1.0% chelsea district 5 0.9% northern berkshire district 5 0.9% framingham district 4 0.7% woburn district 4 0.7% concord district 3 0.5% bmc west roxbury 2 0.3% orleans district 2 0.3% attleboro district 1 0.2% ayer district 1 0.2% barnstable district 1 0.2% brockton district 1 0.2% cambridge district 1 0.2% chicopee district 1 0.2% dedham district 1 0.2% fall river district 1 0.2% fallmouth district 1 0.2% malden district 1 0.2% newburyport district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% palmer district 1 0.2% southern berkshire district 1 0.2% springfield district 1 0.2% taunton district 1 0.2% uxbridge district 1 0.2% wrentham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 415 5 Natural Person 172 582 Total 587 587 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 70.7% 0.9% Natural Person 29.3% 99.1% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 396 19 415 Optional 81 91 172 Total 477 110 587 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 67.5% 3.2% 70.7% Optional 13.8% 15.5% 29.3% Total 81.3% 18.7% 100.0% Defendant Representation Important: Defendants will not have an attorney known to the plaintiff at time of filing unless this is an ongoing matter. 100% pro se is to be expected in all filing reports except to the extent time passes between filing and staff review. See outcomes report for final assessment. (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0 5 5 Optional 13 569 582 Total 13 574 587 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.9% 0.9% Optional 2.2% 96.9% 99.1% Total 2.2% 97.8% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 32 5.5% 1 432 73.6% 2 106 18.1% 3 11 1.9% 4 4 0.7% 5 1 0.2% 6 1 0.2% Total 587 100.0% Note: Households may appear with zero adults due to clerical delay entering known defendants, identity protection obscuring known defendants (e.g., 42 USC Sections 13701 through 1404 Violence Against Women Act), or no adult defendants (e.g., abandonment of minors). Initiating Action Count Percent Non-payment 446 76.0% Unknown/Other 70 11.9% Cause 41 7.0% No Fault 30 5.1% Foreclosure 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Gilbertville 434 5 Chestnut Hill 141 3 Mansfield 112 26 Oakham 52 1 Dorchester 46 43 Oxford 43 6 Carver 34 4 Dennis Port 31 1 Millville 31 1 Brookfield 29 1 North Adams 29 4 Marlborough 28 11 West Brookfield 27 1 Newton Center 25 1 Worcester 25 47 Forestdale 22 1 Framingham 21 15 Eastham 20 1 Fall River 19 17 Fitchburg 19 8 Abington 18 3 Chelsea 17 6 Southbridge 17 3 Ashburnham 16 1 New Bedford 16 16 Great Barrington 14 1 Mashpee 14 2 West Boylston 13 1 Rutland 12 1 Bridgewater 11 3 East Weymouth 11 6 Hull 9 1 Lakeville 9 1 Maynard 9 1 Winchendon 9 1 Athol 8 1 Medford 8 5 Middleborough 8 2 Pepperell 8 1 Roxbury 8 5 South Boston 8 3 Taunton 8 5 Bedford 7 1 Centerville 7 1 Clinton 7 1 Hanover 7 1 Hyannis 7 1 Millbury 7 1 Revere 7 4 Swampscott 7 1 West Newton 7 1 Allston 6 2 Auburn 6 1 Swansea 6 1 Concord 5 1 Holden 5 1 Hyde Park 5 2 Mattapan 5 2 Newburyport 5 1 Quincy 5 5 Somerville 5 4 South Weymouth 5 3 Webster 5 1 Westborough 5 1 Woburn 5 2 Dedham 4 1 Dorchester Center 4 4 Gardner 4 1 Reading 4 1 Salem 4 2 Walpole 4 1 Brockton 3 3 Brookline 3 2 Danvers 3 1 Falmouth 3 1 Saugus 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Attleborough 2 1 Everett 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 Leominster 2 1 Pittsfield 2 1 Boston 1 11 Chicopee 1 1 Plymouth 1 1 Springfield 1 2 (not given) 0 241 Cambridge 0 1 span 0 1 Rate per 100,000 residents based on 2010 census. Municipalities do not appear if no evictions filed. Where neighborhoods are commonly recognized as municipalities, data appears under the neighborhood rather than the legal entity (e.g., "Roxbury" is separate from "Boston".) Where municipalities have alternate spellings (e.g., Marlboro for Marlborough), totals appear under the long form. Efforts are made to correct clerical errors in the court database, but clerical errors may appear. Rate per 100,000 County Renter Households Count Bristol 80 66 Worcester 77 86 Plymouth 44 19 Suffolk 42 83 Barnstable 41 8 Berkshire 37 6 Norfolk 24 21 Middlesex 20 47 Essex 5 6 Hampden 4 3 Dukes 0 0 Franklin 0 0 Hampshire 0 0 Nantucket 0 0 Rate per 100,000 renter households based on 2019 ACS. Counties appear even if no evictions filed. -- Data Sources (report errors to hello@masslandlords.net): County Data Households Percent Renters Barnstable 96,509 20.0% Berkshire 53,792 30.0% Bristol 220,528 37.3% Dukes 18,146 22.6% Essex 297,898 36.9% Franklin 30,927 34.1% Hampden 179,970 39.5% Hampshire 60,002 30.7% Middlesex 612,366 38.1% Nantucket 11,399 30.8% Norfolk 269,717 31.6% Plymouth 191,041 22.6% Suffolk 309,945 63.7% Worcester 316,162 35.2% County Households: 2019 ACS TableID S1101 County Households and Renters, Dukes and Nantucket: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/dukescountymassachusetts County Households and Renters, Large Counties: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=S11&g=0400000US25.050000&d=ACS%201-Year%20Estimates%20Subject%20Tables&tid=ACSST1Y2019.S1101&hidePreview=true Dukes County Renters: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/dukescountymassachusetts Nantucket County Renters: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/nantucketcountymassachusetts -- Methodology Publicly available records at MassCourts.org are read fully manually at two intervals: 1.) For a filings report, once within approximately one week of filing; 2.) For an outcomes report, once again approximately 12 to 18 months after filing. Cases are searched by 'case type' = 'summary process', party type = 'plaintiff' within date ranges, typically weekly. MassCourts.org displays matches, not cases. X plaintiffs on a single case result in X separate matches. Cases are manually de-duplicated. Where the number of matches exceeds the number displayed (e.g., 'Displaying 100 of 257 total matches.'), date ranges are reduced until all cases may be viewed. If the date range cannot be reduced (i.e., is one day) but matches still exceed the display limit of 100, then two additional passes are taken. First, municipalities are filtered in stages. Second, to capture cases with no municipality entered, the search switches from 'case type' to 'case number', guessing the missing numbers assuming serialized entry. This method results in 'matches' reconciled to case counts. This effort costs more than 1 FTE. Summary spreadsheets are produced by copying exactly what is read. The spreadsheets are processed using proprietary software. Repeated analyses of local spreadsheets does not burden the MassCourts servers. The software is developed using best practices for revision control and regression testing. Limitations: Data are snapshots. As such, we cannot track individual cases over time or produce real-time reports. MassLandlords does not have access to court databases beyond what is published in human readable form at MassCourts.org. As of this report, MassLandlords staff were not considering information available to attorneys (e.g., the contents of notices, discovery, evidence, etc.) but not available to the general public. All data presented here are readily verifiable at MassCourts.org without special permission. Information is not independently verified outside of the court record. For instance, clerical errors in address, omissions of a defendant, etc. are not readily verifiable. As this process matures, reporting algorithms may change. Transfers are counted as new cases. Clerical differences between original case and transfer (e.g., middle initial included then dropped; defendant dropped on transfer; street address spelling changed) as well as the potential for indefinite circular transferring (e.g., foreclosure cases moving between housing, land, and/or superior courts) make it very difficult to programmatically identify continuing matters. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.