Filings Week Ending 2021 March 06

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-02-28 Search Period End: 2021-03-06 Earliest Case: 2021-03-01 Latest Case: 2021-03-05 Total Cases: 414 Total Transfers: 13 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 31.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 48.8% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: West Warren Least stable with 10+ filings: New Bedford Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 69 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 northeast 76 18.4% western 69 16.7% central 61 14.7% eastern 60 14.5% southeast 59 14.3% metro_south 35 8.5% quincy district 11 2.7% cambridge district 5 1.2% pittsfield district 5 1.2% orleans district 4 1.0% barnstable district 3 0.7% chelsea district 3 0.7% malden district 3 0.7% uxbridge district 3 0.7% lowell district 2 0.5% northern berkshire district 2 0.5% bmc roxbury 1 0.2% bmc west roxbury 1 0.2% clinton district 1 0.2% edgartown district 1 0.2% fallmouth district 1 0.2% gloucester district 1 0.2% haverhill district 1 0.2% hingham district 1 0.2% holyoke district 1 0.2% somerville district 1 0.2% southern berkshire district 1 0.2% stoughton district 1 0.2% waltham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 285 0 Natural Person 129 414 Total 414 414 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 68.8% 0.0% Natural Person 31.2% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 266 19 285 Optional 66 63 129 Total 332 82 414 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 64.3% 4.6% 68.8% Optional 15.9% 15.2% 31.2% Total 80.2% 19.8% 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 8 406 414 Total 8 406 414 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Optional 1.9% 98.1% 100.0% Total 1.9% 98.1% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 35 8.5% 1 289 69.8% 2 71 17.1% 3 13 3.1% 4 4 1.0% 5 2 0.5% Total 414 100.0% 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 293 70.8% Cause 51 12.3% No Fault 37 8.9% Unknown/Other 28 6.8% Foreclosure 5 1.2% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count West Warren 88 1 Vineyard Haven 52 1 Whitinsville 43 3 Plympton 35 1 Hardwick 33 1 Chatham 32 2 Sheffield 30 1 Brookfield 29 1 Buzzards Bay 29 1 South Easton 29 3 Jefferson 28 1 South Dennis 27 1 Clinton 22 3 New Bedford 22 21 Mansfield 21 5 Mashpee 21 3 Yarmouth Port 19 1 Canton 18 4 West Yarmouth 18 1 Mendon 17 1 Shrewsbury 16 6 Bridgewater 15 4 Medway 15 2 North Easton 15 2 Fitchburg 14 6 Hyannis 14 2 Leominster 14 6 North Adams 14 2 Braintree 13 5 Westminster 13 1 Westwood 13 2 Plainville 12 1 East Weymouth 11 6 Foxborough 11 2 Framingham 11 8 Pittsfield 11 5 Lakeville 9 1 Quincy 9 9 Winchendon 9 1 Worcester 9 18 Athol 8 1 South Yarmouth 8 1 Dorchester 7 7 Fall River 7 7 Holliston 7 1 Marlborough 7 3 Wayland 7 1 Brockton 6 6 Duxbury 6 1 Franklin 6 2 North Attleborough 6 2 Dartmouth 5 2 Pembroke 5 1 Plymouth 5 3 Revere 5 3 Scituate 5 1 Southbridge 5 1 Winthrop 5 1 Cambridge 4 5 East Boston 4 2 Everett 4 2 Middleborough 4 1 Walpole 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Gloucester 3 1 Milford 3 1 Needham Heights 3 1 Randolph 3 1 Taunton 3 2 West Roxbury 3 1 Chelsea 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Lowell 2 3 Somerville 2 2 Dorchester Center 1 1 Haverhill 1 1 Malden 1 1 North Weymouth 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 191 Springfield 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 Barnstable 62 12 Bristol 53 44 Berkshire 49 8 Plymouth 46 20 Worcester 46 52 Norfolk 43 37 Dukes 24 1 Middlesex 11 27 Suffolk 9 18 Hampden 2 2 Essex 1 2 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/.