Filings Week Ending 2021 October 09

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-10-03 Search Period End: 2021-10-09 Earliest Case: 2021-10-04 Latest Case: 2021-10-08 Total Cases: 479 Total Transfers: 8 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 44.1% Of those, percentage pro se: 57.8% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Woronoco Least stable with 10+ filings: Brockton Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 79 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 87 18.2% northeast 86 18.0% central 81 16.9% southeast 67 14.0% metro_south 62 12.9% eastern 33 6.9% lynn district 6 1.3% quincy district 5 1.0% attleboro district 4 0.8% chelsea district 4 0.8% malden district 4 0.8% peabody district 4 0.8% pittsfield district 4 0.8% bmc west roxbury 3 0.6% northern berkshire district 3 0.6% cambridge district 2 0.4% fallmouth district 2 0.4% lawrence district 2 0.4% waltham district 2 0.4% westfield district 2 0.4% worcester district 2 0.4% clinton district 1 0.2% concord district 1 0.2% eastern hampshire district 1 0.2% edgartown district 1 0.2% framingham district 1 0.2% greenfield district 1 0.2% haverhill district 1 0.2% lowell district 1 0.2% milford district 1 0.2% orleans district 1 0.2% palmer district 1 0.2% salem district 1 0.2% somerville district 1 0.2% woburn district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 268 1 Natural Person 211 478 Total 479 479 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 55.9% 0.2% Natural Person 44.1% 99.8% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 261 7 268 Optional 89 122 211 Total 350 129 479 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 54.5% 1.5% 55.9% Optional 18.6% 25.5% 44.1% Total 73.1% 26.9% 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 0 1 1 Optional 6 472 478 Total 6 473 479 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.2% 0.2% Optional 1.3% 98.5% 99.8% Total 1.3% 98.7% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 43 9.0% 1 337 70.4% 2 83 17.3% 3 11 2.3% 4 5 1.0% Total 479 100.0% 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 248 51.8% No Fault 129 26.9% Cause 99 20.7% Unknown/Other 2 0.4% Foreclosure 1 0.2% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Woronoco 900 1 Dennis Port 63 2 Sagamore 54 2 Vineyard Haven 52 1 Plympton 35 1 Three Rivers 34 1 Princeton 29 1 Athol 25 3 East Templeton 24 2 Adams 23 2 Brockton 23 22 Avon 22 1 Lawrence 22 17 Somerset 22 4 Worcester 20 37 Bellingham 18 3 Cherry Valley 18 2 West Yarmouth 18 1 East Falmouth 17 1 Fitchburg 17 7 Foxborough 17 3 Mendon 17 1 Middleborough 17 4 New Bedford 17 17 Rehoboth 17 2 Webster 17 3 Fall River 16 15 Hopedale 16 1 Newton Upper Falls 16 1 Marlborough 15 6 Clinton 14 2 Taunton 14 8 Ayer 13 1 Canton 13 3 Cohasset 13 1 Lowell 13 14 Shirley 13 1 Upton 13 1 Franklin 12 4 Methuen 12 6 Plainville 12 1 Randolph 12 4 Salisbury 12 1 Blackstone 11 1 Chelsea 11 4 Littleton 11 1 Quincy 11 11 Southbridge 11 2 Brewster 10 1 Hudson 10 2 Roslindale 10 3 Ware 10 1 Gardner 9 2 Hanson 9 1 Holbrook 9 1 Hull 9 1 Lakeville 9 1 Leominster 9 4 North Billerica 9 1 Revere 9 5 South Easton 9 1 Westford 9 2 Braintree 8 3 North Dartmouth 8 2 Bedford 7 1 Framingham 7 5 Hyannis 7 1 North Adams 7 1 North Andover 7 2 Peabody 7 4 Uxbridge 7 1 Weymouth 7 4 Attleborough 6 3 Fairhaven 6 1 Haverhill 6 4 Lynn 6 6 Needham 6 2 North Attleborough 6 2 Norwood 6 2 Pittsfield 6 3 Charlestown 5 1 Chelmsford 5 2 Greenfield 5 1 Jamaica Plain 5 2 Malden 5 3 Mattapan 5 2 Belmont 4 1 Cambridge 4 5 Dedham 4 1 East Boston 4 2 Onset 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Wilmington 4 1 Agawam 3 1 Milford 3 1 Natick 3 1 Tewksbury 3 1 West Roxbury 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Beverly 2 1 Brighton 2 1 Everett 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Salem 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 Somerville 2 2 Woburn 2 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 Medford 1 1 South Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 130 Boston 0 4 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 74 32 Bristol 66 55 Worcester 64 72 Norfolk 52 45 Barnstable 41 8 Essex 38 42 Berkshire 37 6 Dukes 24 1 Middlesex 23 55 Suffolk 13 27 Franklin 9 1 Hampshire 5 1 Hampden 4 3 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/.