Filings Week Ending 2021 January 30

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-01-24 Search Period End: 2021-01-30 Earliest Case: 2021-01-25 Latest Case: 2021-01-29 Total Cases: 465 Total Transfers: 13 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 23.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 42.6% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: East Falmouth Least stable with 10+ filings: Ashland Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 77 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 western 113 24.3% northeast 93 20.0% central 82 17.6% southeast 54 11.6% eastern 44 9.5% metro_south 34 7.3% brockton district 9 1.9% lynn district 3 0.6% quincy district 3 0.6% wrentham district 3 0.6% lawrence district 2 0.4% marlborough district 2 0.4% orleans district 2 0.4% waltham district 2 0.4% wareham district 2 0.4% westfield district 2 0.4% ayer district 1 0.2% barnstable district 1 0.2% bmc dorchester 1 0.2% bmc east boston 1 0.2% framingham district 1 0.2% hingham district 1 0.2% malden district 1 0.2% milford district 1 0.2% northampton district 1 0.2% northern berkshire district 1 0.2% orange district 1 0.2% palmer district 1 0.2% peabody district 1 0.2% somerville district 1 0.2% stoughton district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 357 0 Natural Person 108 465 Total 465 465 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 76.8% 0.0% Natural Person 23.2% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 347 10 357 Optional 62 46 108 Total 409 56 465 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 74.6% 2.2% 76.8% Optional 13.3% 9.9% 23.2% Total 88.0% 12.0% 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 0 0 Optional 6 459 465 Total 6 459 465 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Optional 1.3% 98.7% 100.0% Total 1.3% 98.7% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 23 4.9% 1 352 75.7% 2 72 15.5% 3 16 3.4% 4 2 0.4% Total 465 100.0% 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 358 77.0% Cause 43 9.2% No Fault 36 7.7% Unknown/Other 23 4.9% Foreclosure 5 1.1% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count East Falmouth 86 5 South Lancaster 61 1 Ashland 60 10 Brookfield 58 2 Norwell 38 4 Berlin 34 1 Hardwick 33 1 Hudson 26 5 Marlborough 25 10 Millis 25 2 Forestdale 22 1 Westborough 21 4 Brewster 20 2 Framingham 17 12 Spencer 17 2 Hopedale 16 1 New Bedford 16 16 Newton Upper Falls 16 1 North Dartmouth 16 4 Orleans 16 1 Whitinsville 14 1 East Wareham 13 3 Shirley 13 1 Orange 12 1 Worcester 12 22 Brockton 11 11 Douglas 11 1 Revere 11 6 Southbridge 11 2 Fall River 10 9 Hanson 9 1 Hull 9 1 Winchendon 9 1 Chelsea 8 3 Middleborough 8 2 Clinton 7 1 Fitchburg 7 3 Hanover 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Milford 7 2 North Adams 7 1 Northborough 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Amesbury 6 1 Brighton 6 3 Dorchester 6 6 Easthampton 6 1 Swansea 6 1 Greenfield 5 1 Mattapan 5 2 Roxbury 5 3 Winthrop 5 1 Lynn 4 4 Mansfield 4 1 Falmouth 3 1 Franklin 3 1 Marshfield 3 1 Natick 3 1 Saugus 3 1 Stoughton 3 1 Taunton 3 2 West Roxbury 3 1 Barnstable 2 1 Beverly 2 1 Braintree 2 1 Cambridge 2 3 East Boston 2 1 Everett 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Lawrence 2 2 Leominster 2 1 Quincy 2 2 Westfield 2 1 Boston 1 7 Chicopee 1 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 Medford 1 1 Plymouth 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 Somerville 1 1 (not given) 0 243 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 Plymouth 60 26 Barnstable 56 11 Worcester 43 48 Bristol 40 33 Middlesex 19 46 Franklin 18 2 Suffolk 18 36 Essex 8 9 Norfolk 8 7 Berkshire 6 1 Hampshire 5 1 Hampden 2 2 Dukes 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/.