Filings Week Ending 2021 July 17

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-07-11 Search Period End: 2021-07-17 Earliest Case: 2021-07-12 Latest Case: 2021-07-16 Total Cases: 436 Total Transfers: 7 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 45.4% Of those, percentage pro se: 56.1% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Gilbertville Least stable with 10+ filings: Norwood Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 72 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 southeast 77 17.7% central 73 16.7% northeast 57 13.1% western 56 12.8% eastern 55 12.6% metro_south 51 11.7% malden district 6 1.4% pittsfield district 6 1.4% lynn district 5 1.1% quincy district 5 1.1% taunton district 5 1.1% fall river district 3 0.7% northern berkshire district 3 0.7% woburn district 3 0.7% attleboro district 2 0.5% barnstable district 2 0.5% bmc west roxbury 2 0.5% chelsea district 2 0.5% haverhill district 2 0.5% milford district 2 0.5% palmer district 2 0.5% springfield district 2 0.5% bmc east boston 1 0.2% dedham district 1 0.2% eastern hampshire district 1 0.2% edgartown district 1 0.2% hingham district 1 0.2% nantucket district 1 0.2% new bedford district 1 0.2% orleans district 1 0.2% peabody district 1 0.2% plymouth district 1 0.2% salem district 1 0.2% somerville district 1 0.2% waltham district 1 0.2% wareham district 1 0.2% westfield district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 238 2 Natural Person 198 434 Total 436 436 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 54.6% 0.5% Natural Person 45.4% 99.5% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 234 4 238 Optional 87 111 198 Total 321 115 436 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 53.7% 0.9% 54.6% Optional 20.0% 25.5% 45.4% Total 73.6% 26.4% 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 2 2 Optional 6 428 434 Total 6 430 436 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.5% 0.5% Optional 1.4% 98.2% 99.5% Total 1.4% 98.6% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 50 11.5% 1 300 68.8% 2 56 12.8% 3 17 3.9% 4 9 2.1% 5 4 0.9% Total 436 100.0% 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 225 51.6% No Fault 108 24.8% Cause 103 23.6% Foreclosure 0 0.0% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Gilbertville 173 2 Baldwinville 158 3 Vineyard Haven 52 1 Norwood 45 13 West Dennis 45 1 North Oxford 44 1 Adams 35 3 West Barnstable 35 1 Provincetown 33 1 Fall River 32 29 Lanesborough 32 1 Dennis Port 31 1 Winchendon 29 3 East Sandwich 28 1 Clinton 22 3 Fitchburg 22 9 North Brookfield 21 1 East Freetown 20 1 Marstons Mills 20 1 Tewksbury 20 6 Brockton 19 18 Lunenburg 19 2 New Bedford 19 19 Warren 19 1 Barre 18 1 Athol 17 2 Revere 17 9 Southbridge 17 3 Chatham 16 1 Mattapoisett 16 1 Palmer 16 2 Taunton 16 9 East Taunton 15 1 Whitinsville 14 1 Amesbury 12 2 Fairhaven 12 2 Plainville 12 1 Foxborough 11 2 Lowell 11 12 Lynn 11 10 Rockland 11 2 Worcester 11 20 Milford 10 3 Roslindale 10 3 Ware 10 1 Acushnet 9 1 East Wareham 9 2 Gardner 9 2 Holbrook 9 1 Leicester 9 1 Leominster 9 4 Nantucket 9 1 Stoneham 9 2 Wareham 9 2 Chelmsford 8 3 Chelsea 8 3 Framingham 8 6 Jamaica Plain 8 3 Mattapan 8 3 Pepperell 8 1 Pittsfield 8 4 Plymouth 8 5 Quincy 8 8 South Yarmouth 8 1 Spencer 8 1 Arlington 7 3 Centerville 7 1 Danvers 7 2 East Bridgewater 7 1 Everett 7 3 Millbury 7 1 Northborough 7 1 Swampscott 7 1 Woburn 7 3 Allston 6 2 Auburn 6 1 Brighton 6 3 Hopkinton 6 1 Lawrence 6 5 Malden 6 4 Swansea 6 1 Whitman 6 1 Braintree 5 2 Dorchester 5 5 Medford 5 3 Roxbury 5 3 Winthrop 5 1 Billerica 4 2 Burlington 4 1 Canton 4 1 Dedham 4 1 Dorchester Center 4 4 East Boston 4 2 Hingham 4 1 Middleborough 4 1 Salem 4 2 Sandwich 4 1 Walpole 4 1 East Weymouth 3 2 Franklin 3 1 Marshfield 3 1 Needham 3 1 Needham Heights 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Stoughton 3 1 Waltham 3 2 West Roxbury 3 1 Attleborough 2 1 Beverly 2 1 Dartmouth 2 1 Marlborough 2 1 Methuen 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Boston 1 10 Brookline 1 1 Haverhill 1 1 Peabody 1 1 Somerville 1 1 Springfield 1 3 (not given) 0 71 Cambridge 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 Plymouth 81 35 Bristol 80 66 Worcester 60 67 Barnstable 51 10 Berkshire 49 8 Norfolk 43 37 Nantucket 28 1 Suffolk 26 52 Dukes 24 1 Essex 23 26 Middlesex 23 55 Hampden 8 6 Hampshire 5 1 Franklin 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/.