Filings Week Ending 2021 June 19

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-06-13 Search Period End: 2021-06-19 Earliest Case: 2021-06-14 Latest Case: 2021-06-18 Total Cases: 448 Total Transfers: 11 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 40.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 47.8% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: North Adams Least stable with 10+ filings: New Bedford Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Berkshire Cases per day: 74 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 84 18.8% central 72 16.1% southeast 71 15.8% western 61 13.6% eastern 48 10.7% metro_south 36 8.0% quincy district 9 2.0% framingham district 8 1.8% northern berkshire district 8 1.8% lynn district 6 1.3% pittsfield district 6 1.3% malden district 5 1.1% woburn district 4 0.9% attleboro district 3 0.7% fall river district 3 0.7% worcester district 3 0.7% cambridge district 2 0.4% fallmouth district 2 0.4% milford district 2 0.4% ayer district 1 0.2% barnstable district 1 0.2% bmc east boston 1 0.2% chelsea district 1 0.2% concord district 1 0.2% holyoke district 1 0.2% lowell district 1 0.2% nantucket district 1 0.2% new bedford district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% peabody district 1 0.2% plymouth district 1 0.2% somerville district 1 0.2% taunton district 1 0.2% wrentham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 268 1 Natural Person 180 447 Total 448 448 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 59.8% 0.2% Natural Person 40.2% 99.8% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 265 3 268 Optional 94 86 180 Total 359 89 448 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 59.2% 0.7% 59.8% Optional 21.0% 19.2% 40.2% Total 80.1% 19.9% 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 1 0 1 Optional 7 440 447 Total 8 440 448 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.2% 0.0% 0.2% Optional 1.6% 98.2% 99.8% Total 1.8% 98.2% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 22 4.9% 1 323 72.1% 2 86 19.2% 3 14 3.1% 4 1 0.2% 5 2 0.4% Total 448 100.0% 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 222 49.6% Cause 118 26.3% No Fault 107 23.9% Foreclosure 1 0.2% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count North Adams 58 8 West Wareham 46 1 North Falmouth 37 1 Lanesborough 32 1 Cheshire 30 1 Webster 29 5 Whitinsville 28 2 Halifax 26 2 New Bedford 24 23 Hubbardston 22 1 Framingham 21 15 Hyannis 21 3 Lowell 21 23 North Brookfield 21 1 Marstons Mills 20 1 Gardner 19 4 Lunenburg 19 2 Amesbury 18 3 Fairhaven 18 3 West Yarmouth 18 1 Athol 17 2 East Falmouth 17 1 Fitchburg 17 7 Chatham 16 1 Fall River 16 15 Newton Upper Falls 16 1 Salem 16 7 Lincoln 15 1 Chelsea 14 5 Lawrence 14 11 Oxford 14 2 Worcester 14 26 Ayer 13 1 Braintree 13 5 Canton 13 3 Cohasset 13 1 Lynn 13 12 Shirley 13 1 Tewksbury 13 4 East Boston 12 5 Lancaster 12 1 Millis 12 1 Pittsfield 11 5 Rockland 11 2 Saugus 11 3 Brockton 10 10 Marlborough 10 4 Norwood 10 3 Roxbury 10 6 Taunton 10 6 Westborough 10 2 Attleborough 9 4 Hull 9 1 Nantucket 9 1 Quincy 9 9 Revere 9 5 Watertown 9 3 Winchendon 9 1 Burlington 8 2 Tyngsborough 8 1 Wakefield 8 2 Clinton 7 1 Danvers 7 2 Everett 7 3 Ipswich 7 1 Mashpee 7 1 Plymouth 7 4 Raynham 7 1 Wayland 7 1 Weymouth 7 4 Woburn 7 3 Abington 6 1 Bellingham 6 1 Dorchester 6 6 Falmouth 6 2 Franklin 6 2 North Reading 6 1 Swansea 6 1 Whitman 6 1 Bourne 5 1 Concord 5 1 Dorchester Center 5 5 Hudson 5 1 Malden 5 3 Norton 5 1 Peabody 5 3 Southbridge 5 1 Sudbury 5 1 Brighton 4 2 Dedham 4 1 East Wareham 4 1 Hingham 4 1 Mansfield 4 1 North Dartmouth 4 1 Stoneham 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Winchester 4 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Gloucester 3 1 Haverhill 3 2 Melrose 3 1 Milford 3 1 Milton 3 1 North Andover 3 1 Somerville 3 3 Arlington 2 1 Beverly 2 1 Cambridge 2 3 Chelmsford 2 1 E. Boston 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Leominster 2 1 Mattapan 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 South Boston 2 1 South Dartmouth 2 1 Brookline 1 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 South Weymouth 1 1 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 65 Boston 0 6 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 Berkshire 92 15 Bristol 69 57 Barnstable 62 12 Plymouth 60 26 Worcester 54 61 Essex 42 47 Norfolk 38 33 Middlesex 36 85 Nantucket 28 1 Suffolk 22 44 Hampden 2 2 Dukes 0 0 Franklin 0 0 Hampshire 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/.