Filings Week Ending 2021 August 07

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-08-01 Search Period End: 2021-08-07 Earliest Case: 2021-08-02 Latest Case: 2021-08-07 Total Cases: 424 Total Transfers: 14 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 39.4% Of those, percentage pro se: 66.5% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: East Dennis Least stable with 10+ filings: New Bedford Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 70 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 84 19.8% northeast 75 17.7% central 60 14.2% western 57 13.4% metro_south 49 11.6% eastern 46 10.8% malden district 7 1.7% cambridge district 5 1.2% northern berkshire district 5 1.2% pittsfield district 5 1.2% quincy district 5 1.2% fall river district 3 0.7% haverhill district 3 0.7% lynn district 3 0.7% chicopee district 2 0.5% framingham district 2 0.5% barnstable district 1 0.2% bmc central 1 0.2% chelsea district 1 0.2% dedham district 1 0.2% gloucester district 1 0.2% lawrence district 1 0.2% lowell district 1 0.2% new bedford district 1 0.2% orleans district 1 0.2% peabody district 1 0.2% waltham district 1 0.2% westfield district 1 0.2% woburn district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 257 0 Natural Person 167 424 Total 424 424 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 60.6% 0.0% Natural Person 39.4% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 256 1 257 Optional 56 111 167 Total 312 112 424 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 60.4% 0.2% 60.6% Optional 13.2% 26.2% 39.4% 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 0 0 Optional 11 413 424 Total 11 413 424 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Optional 2.6% 97.4% 100.0% Total 2.6% 97.4% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 35 8.3% 1 263 62.0% 2 106 25.0% 3 11 2.6% 4 7 1.7% 5 1 0.2% 6 1 0.2% Total 424 100.0% 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 253 59.7% No Fault 86 20.3% Cause 84 19.8% Foreclosure 1 0.2% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count East Dennis 77 2 Chestnut Hill 47 1 North Falmouth 37 1 Rockland 34 6 Provincetown 33 1 Lanesborough 32 1 Dennis Port 31 1 North Adams 29 4 East Wareham 27 6 Milford 25 7 New Bedford 25 24 Newton Center 25 1 Fall River 24 22 Boxborough 20 1 Newtonville 19 1 Barre 18 1 West Yarmouth 18 1 Athol 17 2 East Falmouth 17 1 South Yarmouth 17 2 Southbridge 17 3 Marlborough 15 6 Worcester 15 28 East Bridgewater 14 2 Lawrence 14 11 Braintree 13 5 Halifax 13 1 Malden 13 8 Whitman 13 2 East Boston 12 5 Franklin 12 4 Middleborough 12 3 Plainville 12 1 Randolph 12 4 Salisbury 12 1 Williamstown 12 1 Brockton 11 11 Lowell 11 12 Pittsfield 11 5 Quincy 11 11 Townsend 11 1 Beverly 10 4 Gloucester 10 3 Sturbridge 10 1 Attleborough 9 4 Everett 9 4 Hull 9 1 Lunenburg 9 1 Peabody 9 5 Burlington 8 2 Chelsea 8 3 Haverhill 8 5 Methuen 8 4 Walpole 8 2 Cambridge 7 8 Clinton 7 1 Danvers 7 2 East Weymouth 7 4 Framingham 7 5 Hyannis 7 1 Lynn 7 7 Medway 7 1 Taunton 7 4 Uxbridge 7 1 Brighton 6 3 Dorchester Center 6 6 Hopkinton 6 1 Charlestown 5 1 Foxborough 5 1 Marblehead 5 1 Mattapan 5 2 Pembroke 5 1 Revere 5 3 Roxbury 5 3 Sharon 5 1 Somerset 5 1 Webster 5 1 Westborough 5 1 Woburn 5 2 Belmont 4 1 Canton 4 1 Dedham 4 1 Gardner 4 1 North Dartmouth 4 1 Onset 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Wilmington 4 1 Allston 3 1 Brookline 3 2 Melrose 3 1 Norwood 3 1 Plymouth 3 2 Roslindale 3 1 Saugus 3 1 Stoughton 3 1 Waltham 3 2 Watertown 3 1 West Roxbury 3 1 Billerica 2 1 Dorchester 2 2 Fitchburg 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Salem 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Chicopee 1 1 Medford 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 Somerville 1 1 Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 72 Boston 0 4 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 Plymouth 85 37 Berkshire 68 11 Bristol 68 56 Barnstable 51 10 Norfolk 49 42 Worcester 44 50 Essex 40 45 Middlesex 26 61 Suffolk 18 37 Hampden 4 3 Dukes 0 0 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/.