Filings Week Ending 2021 August 21

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-08-15 Search Period End: 2021-08-21 Earliest Case: 2021-08-16 Latest Case: 2021-08-20 Total Cases: 501 Total Transfers: 14 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 36.5% Of those, percentage pro se: 43.2% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: West Hyannisport Least stable with 10+ filings: Pittsfield Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Berkshire Cases per day: 83 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 western 93 18.6% central 82 16.4% northeast 73 14.6% southeast 68 13.6% eastern 56 11.2% metro_south 41 8.2% pittsfield district 12 2.4% brockton district 8 1.6% fall river district 8 1.6% lynn district 8 1.6% malden district 6 1.2% woburn district 6 1.2% lowell district 5 1.0% bmc east boston 4 0.8% quincy district 4 0.8% northern berkshire district 3 0.6% wrentham district 3 0.6% attleboro district 2 0.4% ayer district 2 0.4% barnstable district 2 0.4% nantucket district 2 0.4% newburyport district 2 0.4% taunton district 2 0.4% chelsea district 1 0.2% clinton district 1 0.2% dedham district 1 0.2% framingham district 1 0.2% new bedford district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% orange district 1 0.2% uxbridge district 1 0.2% waltham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 318 0 Natural Person 183 501 Total 501 501 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 63.5% 0.0% Natural Person 36.5% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 314 4 318 Optional 104 79 183 Total 418 83 501 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 62.7% 0.8% 63.5% Optional 20.8% 15.8% 36.5% Total 83.4% 16.6% 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 15 486 501 Total 15 486 501 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Optional 3.0% 97.0% 100.0% Total 3.0% 97.0% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 42 8.4% 1 350 69.9% 2 85 17.0% 3 15 3.0% 4 5 1.0% 5 3 0.6% 11 1 0.2% Total 501 100.0% 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 235 46.9% Cause 146 29.1% No Fault 118 23.6% Foreclosure 1 0.2% Unknown/Other 1 0.2% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count West Hyannisport 555 1 Royalston 79 1 Bolton 40 2 West Barnstable 35 1 Berlin 34 1 Southbridge 29 5 Hyannis 28 4 Pittsfield 26 12 Newton Center 25 1 South Yarmouth 25 3 Framingham 21 15 Fall River 20 18 Marblehead 20 4 Nantucket 19 2 Warren 19 1 Brockton 18 17 Lawrence 18 14 New Bedford 18 18 Chelsea 17 6 Fitchburg 17 7 Middleborough 17 4 Norwood 17 5 Webster 17 3 Somerset 16 3 East Taunton 15 1 Lincoln 15 1 Marlborough 15 6 North Adams 14 2 Northborough 14 2 Raynham 14 2 West Bridgewater 14 1 Ayer 13 1 Lowell 13 14 Abington 12 2 Ashland 12 2 Boxford 12 1 Fairhaven 12 2 Millis 12 1 Orange 12 1 Plainville 12 1 Salisbury 12 1 Taunton 12 7 Adams 11 1 Blackstone 11 1 Bridgewater 11 3 Malden 11 7 Newburyport 11 2 Peabody 11 6 Revere 11 6 Sharon 11 2 Stoughton 11 3 Townsend 11 1 Worcester 11 21 Jamaica Plain 10 4 North Andover 10 3 Norton 10 2 Sturbridge 10 1 Westborough 10 2 Canton 9 2 East Wareham 9 2 Everett 9 4 Franklin 9 3 Holbrook 9 1 Hull 9 1 Lynn 9 9 Wareham 9 2 Wrentham 9 1 Athol 8 1 Norfolk 8 1 Shrewsbury 8 3 Tyngsborough 8 1 Charlton 7 1 Clinton 7 1 E. Boston 7 3 Melrose 7 2 Swampscott 7 1 Amesbury 6 1 Auburn 6 1 Haverhill 6 4 Hopkinton 6 1 Natick 6 2 Randolph 6 2 Swansea 6 1 Westport 6 1 Dorchester 5 5 Foxborough 5 1 Hudson 5 1 Hyde Park 5 2 Mattapan 5 2 Rockland 5 1 Winthrop 5 1 Woburn 5 2 Dorchester Center 4 4 East Boston 4 2 Gardner 4 1 Leominster 4 2 Quincy 4 4 Reading 4 1 Salem 4 2 Walpole 4 1 Andover 3 1 East Weymouth 3 2 Marshfield 3 1 Milton 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Plymouth 3 2 Roxbury 3 2 Tewksbury 3 1 Wellesley 3 1 Weymouth 3 2 Attleborough 2 1 Beverly 2 1 Billerica 2 1 Boston 2 17 Brighton 2 1 Chelmsford 2 1 Methuen 2 1 South Boston 2 1 South Dartmouth 2 1 Medford 1 1 Somerville 1 1 Springfield 1 2 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 111 span 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 Plymouth 83 36 Bristol 70 58 Nantucket 56 2 Worcester 51 57 Barnstable 46 9 Essex 46 51 Norfolk 39 34 Middlesex 29 68 Suffolk 28 56 Franklin 9 1 Hampden 2 2 Dukes 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/.