Filings Week Ending 2021 October 02

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-09-26 Search Period End: 2021-10-02 Earliest Case: 2021-09-27 Latest Case: 2021-10-01 Total Cases: 394 Total Transfers: 6 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 31.7% Of those, percentage pro se: 51.2% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Marion Least stable with 10+ filings: Lowell Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 65 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 102 25.9% western 65 16.5% southeast 60 15.2% central 50 12.7% metro_south 40 10.2% eastern 35 8.9% lynn district 6 1.5% quincy district 6 1.5% framingham district 3 0.8% attleboro district 2 0.5% bmc west roxbury 2 0.5% chelsea district 2 0.5% hingham district 2 0.5% lawrence district 2 0.5% malden district 2 0.5% somerville district 2 0.5% wrentham district 2 0.5% barnstable district 1 0.3% dedham district 1 0.3% fall river district 1 0.3% fallmouth district 1 0.3% greenfield district 1 0.3% northern berkshire district 1 0.3% peabody district 1 0.3% pittsfield district 1 0.3% plymouth district 1 0.3% southern berkshire district 1 0.3% taunton district 1 0.3% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 269 0 Natural Person 125 394 Total 394 394 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 68.3% 0.0% Natural Person 31.7% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 262 7 269 Optional 61 64 125 Total 323 71 394 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 66.5% 1.8% 68.3% Optional 15.5% 16.2% 31.7% Total 82.0% 18.0% 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 6 388 394 Total 6 388 394 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Optional 1.5% 98.5% 100.0% Total 1.5% 98.5% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 22 5.6% 1 300 76.1% 2 62 15.7% 3 8 2.0% 4 2 0.5% Total 394 100.0% 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 261 66.2% Cause 65 16.5% No Fault 64 16.2% Foreclosure 4 1.0% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Marion 81 4 Whately 66 1 Bondsville 53 1 North Truro 49 1 East Falmouth 34 2 Lowell 31 34 East Sandwich 28 1 Southbridge 23 4 Forestdale 22 1 Gardner 19 4 Lenox 19 1 Warren 19 1 Bridgewater 18 5 Stoughton 18 5 Pepperell 17 2 Fall River 16 15 Mattapoisett 16 1 East Taunton 15 1 Lawrence 15 12 Marshfield 15 4 Dighton 14 1 Framingham 14 10 New Bedford 14 14 Raynham 14 2 North Attleborough 13 4 Revere 13 7 Amesbury 12 2 Georgetown 12 1 Adams 11 1 Blackstone 11 1 Marlborough 10 4 Norwood 10 3 Brockton 9 9 Dorchester 9 9 Hanson 9 1 Lunenburg 9 1 Maynard 9 1 South Easton 9 1 Worcester 9 18 Athol 8 1 Braintree 8 3 Jamaica Plain 8 3 Mattapan 8 3 Quincy 8 8 South Yarmouth 8 1 Spencer 8 1 Centerville 7 1 East Walpole 7 2 Fitchburg 7 3 Hanover 7 1 Millbury 7 1 Seekonk 7 1 South Weymouth 7 4 Swampscott 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Bellingham 6 1 Haverhill 6 4 Lynn 6 6 Methuen 6 3 Randolph 6 2 Foxborough 5 1 Grafton 5 1 Belmont 4 1 Everett 4 2 Hingham 4 1 Mansfield 4 1 Middleborough 4 1 Reading 4 1 Sandwich 4 1 Walpole 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Andover 3 1 East Weymouth 3 2 Falmouth 3 1 Franklin 3 1 North Andover 3 1 Roslindale 3 1 Somerville 3 3 Taunton 3 2 Tewksbury 3 1 West Roxbury 3 1 Brighton 2 1 Dartmouth 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Leominster 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 South Boston 2 1 Boston 1 8 Dorchester Center 1 1 E. Weymouth 1 1 North Weymouth 1 1 Peabody 1 1 Plymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 106 Cambridge 0 1 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 Plymouth 67 29 Bristol 52 43 Barnstable 46 9 Norfolk 41 35 Worcester 35 39 Essex 29 32 Middlesex 25 60 Suffolk 18 36 Berkshire 12 2 Franklin 9 1 Hampden 1 1 Dukes 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/.