Filings Month Ending 2021 May 31

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-05-01 Search Period End: 2021-05-31 Earliest Case: 2021-05-03 Latest Case: 2021-05-31 Total Cases: 1471 Total Transfers: 49 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 34.6% Of those, percentage pro se: 45.4% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: West Hyannisport Least stable with 10+ filings: Oxford Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 49 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 267 18.2% southeast 250 17.0% central 230 15.6% western 202 13.7% eastern 197 13.4% metro_south 156 10.6% cambridge district 15 1.0% malden district 12 0.8% lynn district 11 0.7% chelsea district 9 0.6% framingham district 9 0.6% fall river district 8 0.5% quincy district 8 0.5% somerville district 8 0.5% northern berkshire district 7 0.5% dedham district 6 0.4% newburyport district 6 0.4% springfield district 5 0.3% bmc west roxbury 4 0.3% haverhill district 4 0.3% lowell district 4 0.3% milford district 4 0.3% bmc east boston 3 0.2% concord district 3 0.2% plymouth district 3 0.2% waltham district 3 0.2% woburn district 3 0.2% wrentham district 3 0.2% ayer district 2 0.1% barnstable district 2 0.1% fallmouth district 2 0.1% hingham district 2 0.1% nantucket district 2 0.1% orleans district 2 0.1% pittsfield district 2 0.1% salem district 2 0.1% taunton district 2 0.1% bmc brighton 1 0.1% bmc charlestown 1 0.1% brookline district 1 0.1% chicopee district 1 0.1% holyoke district 1 0.1% lawrence district 1 0.1% new bedford district 1 0.1% newton district 1 0.1% palmer district 1 0.1% southern berkshire district 1 0.1% stoughton district 1 0.1% wareham district 1 0.1% westborough district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 962 6 Natural Person 509 1465 Total 1471 1471 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 65.4% 0.4% Natural Person 34.6% 99.6% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 935 27 962 Optional 278 231 509 Total 1213 258 1471 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 63.6% 1.8% 65.4% Optional 18.9% 15.7% 34.6% Total 82.5% 17.5% 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 6 6 Optional 33 1432 1465 Total 33 1438 1471 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.4% 0.4% Optional 2.2% 97.3% 99.6% Total 2.2% 97.8% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 82 5.6% 1 1014 68.9% 2 305 20.7% 3 45 3.1% 4 17 1.2% 5 6 0.4% 6 2 0.1% Total 1471 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 842 57.2% Cause 324 22.0% No Fault 262 17.8% Unknown/Other 36 2.4% Foreclosure 7 0.5% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count West Hyannisport 555 1 Thorndike 433 3 Florence 210 2 Millers Falls 155 2 Oxford 94 13 West Yarmouth 94 5 Fall River 78 70 Amesbury 67 11 South Dennis 54 2 New Bedford 53 51 Southbridge 53 9 Baldwinville 52 1 Framingham 51 35 North Adams 51 7 Seekonk 51 7 South Yarmouth 51 6 Millis 50 4 Hyannis 49 7 Norwood 48 14 South Easton 48 5 Chestnut Hill 47 1 West Townsend 47 1 Worcester 46 85 East Brookfield 45 1 Huntington 45 1 Rockland 45 8 Carver 43 5 Chicopee 43 24 Randolph 43 14 Haverhill 41 25 Westwood 41 6 Ayer 40 3 Holyoke 40 16 Stoughton 40 11 Indian Orchard 39 4 Orange 38 3 Winchendon 38 4 North Billerica 37 4 Springfield 37 58 Bellingham 36 6 Chelsea 36 13 Lowell 36 39 Salisbury 36 3 Mashpee 35 5 Athol 34 4 East Falmouth 34 2 Gardner 34 7 Middleborough 34 8 Dorchester 33 31 Hardwick 33 1 Provincetown 33 1 Fiskdale 32 1 Fitchburg 32 13 Milford 32 9 Northfield 32 1 Dennis Port 31 1 Hatfield 30 1 Sheffield 30 1 Ware 30 3 Brockton 29 28 Dedham 28 7 West Bridgewater 28 2 Revere 27 14 Hyde Park 26 9 Walpole 24 6 Allston 23 7 Taunton 23 13 Webster 23 4 Uxbridge 22 3 Medford 21 12 North Brookfield 21 1 Belchertown 20 3 Boxborough 20 1 Brighton 20 9 East Freetown 20 1 Marion 20 1 Whitman 20 3 Braintree 19 7 Cambridge 19 20 Dorchester Center 19 18 East Boston 19 8 Hadley 19 1 Hanson 19 2 Hull 19 2 Marshfield 19 5 Westport 19 3 Yarmouth Port 19 1 Acton 18 4 Auburn 18 3 Bridgewater 18 5 East Wareham 18 4 Lawrence 18 14 Swansea 18 3 Greenfield 17 3 Leominster 17 7 Pepperell 17 2 Roslindale 17 5 Ashburnham 16 1 East Weymouth 16 9 Jamaica Plain 16 6 Methuen 16 8 Palmer 16 2 Quincy 16 15 Amherst 15 6 Berkley 15 1 Charlton 15 2 East Taunton 15 1 Franklin 15 5 Lincoln 15 1 Millbury 15 2 Norton 15 3 Centerville 14 2 Clinton 14 2 East Bridgewater 14 2 Everett 14 6 Milton 14 4 Northampton 14 4 Shrewsbury 14 5 Attleborough 13 6 Halifax 13 1 Hingham 13 3 Roxbury 13 8 Tewksbury 13 4 West Boylston 13 1 Westminster 13 1 Abington 12 2 Ashland 12 2 Georgetown 12 1 Lancaster 12 1 Lynn 12 11 Natick 12 4 Plainville 12 1 Rutland 12 1 Templeton 12 1 Blackstone 11 1 Brookline 11 7 Foxborough 11 2 Malden 11 7 Monson 11 1 Roxbury Crossing 11 7 Sharon 11 2 Sudbury 11 2 Auburndale 10 1 Hudson 10 2 Marlborough 10 4 Plymouth 10 6 Southborough 10 1 Westborough 10 2 Canton 9 2 Cherry Valley 9 1 Groton 9 1 Holbrook 9 1 Rochdale 9 1 Sandwich 9 2 Somerville 9 7 Wareham 9 2 Westford 9 2 Wrentham 9 1 Belmont 8 2 Mansfield 8 2 Norfolk 8 1 Pittsfield 8 4 Arlington 7 3 Bedford 7 1 Beverly 7 3 Bradford 7 1 Dennis 7 1 Hanover 7 1 Holliston 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Medway 7 1 North Easton 7 1 Northborough 7 1 West Springfield 7 2 Wilbraham 7 1 Boston 6 40 Duxbury 6 1 Fairhaven 6 1 Hopkinton 6 1 Needham 6 2 North Attleborough 6 2 Grafton 5 1 Mattapan 5 2 Pembroke 5 1 South Boston 5 2 South Dartmouth 5 2 South Hadley 5 1 Winthrop 5 1 Billerica 4 2 North Dartmouth 4 1 Onset 4 1 Salem 4 2 Stoneham 4 1 Dracut 3 1 Melrose 3 1 Needham Heights 3 1 North Andover 3 1 Peabody 3 2 Saugus 3 1 South Weymouth 3 2 Waltham 3 2 West Roxbury 3 1 Chelmsford 2 1 Dartmouth 2 1 E. Boston 2 1 Manomet 1 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 North Weymouth 1 1 Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 239 span 0 2 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 220 95 Bristol 211 174 Barnstable 186 36 Worcester 171 191 Norfolk 157 134 Hampden 156 111 Hampshire 119 22 Suffolk 92 182 Franklin 85 9 Middlesex 77 181 Essex 75 83 Berkshire 74 12 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/.