Filings Week Ending 2021 November 13

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-11-07 Search Period End: 2021-11-13 Earliest Case: 2021-11-08 Latest Case: 2021-11-12 Total Cases: 569 Total Transfers: 7 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 38.1% Of those, percentage pro se: 52.5% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Florida Least stable with 10+ filings: Canton Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Worcester Cases per day: 94 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 central 116 20.4% northeast 113 19.9% western 86 15.1% eastern 73 12.8% southeast 70 12.3% metro_south 40 7.0% malden district 14 2.5% lynn district 6 1.1% attleboro district 5 0.9% fall river district 4 0.7% waltham district 4 0.7% gloucester district 3 0.5% bmc central 2 0.4% chelsea district 2 0.4% newburyport district 2 0.4% peabody district 2 0.4% quincy district 2 0.4% springfield district 2 0.4% taunton district 2 0.4% barnstable district 1 0.2% bmc brighton 1 0.2% bmc east boston 1 0.2% bmc west roxbury 1 0.2% brookline district 1 0.2% cambridge district 1 0.2% eastern hampshire district 1 0.2% lawrence district 1 0.2% leominster district 1 0.2% lowell district 1 0.2% nantucket district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% northern berkshire district 1 0.2% orleans district 1 0.2% palmer district 1 0.2% pittsfield district 1 0.2% salem district 1 0.2% stoughton district 1 0.2% westfield district 1 0.2% woburn district 1 0.2% wrentham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 352 2 Natural Person 217 567 Total 569 569 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 61.9% 0.4% Natural Person 38.1% 99.6% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 335 17 352 Optional 103 114 217 Total 438 131 569 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 58.9% 3.0% 61.9% Optional 18.1% 20.0% 38.1% Total 77.0% 23.0% 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 2 2 Optional 9 558 567 Total 9 560 569 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.4% 0.4% Optional 1.6% 98.1% 99.6% Total 1.6% 98.4% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 53 9.3% 1 381 67.0% 2 102 17.9% 3 21 3.7% 4 9 1.6% 5 3 0.5% Total 569 100.0% 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 276 48.5% Cause 147 25.8% No Fault 134 23.6% Foreclosure 11 1.9% Unknown/Other 1 0.2% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Florida 132 1 Pocasset 69 2 Canton 60 13 Newtonville 57 3 Russell 56 1 Newbury 45 3 West Dennis 45 1 Southbridge 41 7 Indian Orchard 39 4 Wellfleet 36 1 Berlin 34 1 Worcester 31 57 Everett 28 12 Whitinsville 28 2 Sagamore 27 1 Sagamore Beach 27 1 West Brookfield 27 1 Carver 26 3 Athol 25 3 Holyoke 25 10 Spencer 25 3 Gardner 24 5 Hyannis 21 3 Mattapan 21 8 Belchertown 20 3 East Freetown 20 1 Fall River 20 18 Marstons Mills 20 1 Ware 20 2 Fitchburg 19 8 Nantucket 19 2 Winchendon 19 2 Yarmouth Port 19 1 West Yarmouth 18 1 Greenfield 17 3 Rockland 17 3 Attleborough 16 7 Haverhill 16 10 Mattapoisett 16 1 Dorchester 15 14 East Taunton 15 1 Kingston 15 2 Lawrence 15 12 West Bridgewater 14 1 West Springfield 14 4 Acton 13 3 Hopkinton 13 2 Pittsfield 13 6 Revere 13 7 Lancaster 12 1 Lowell 12 13 Middleborough 12 3 North Grafton 12 1 Randolph 12 4 Rutland 12 1 Taunton 12 7 Monson 11 1 Springfield 11 17 Webster 11 2 Winthrop 11 2 Chicopee 10 6 Gloucester 10 3 New Bedford 10 10 Sturbridge 10 1 Acushnet 9 1 Cherry Valley 9 1 East Boston 9 4 Franklin 9 3 Hingham 9 2 Holbrook 9 1 Maynard 9 1 Rochdale 9 1 South Easton 9 1 Dedham 8 2 Hyde Park 8 3 Roxbury 8 5 Billerica 7 3 Centerville 7 1 Clinton 7 1 Framingham 7 5 Oxford 7 1 Stoughton 7 2 Uxbridge 7 1 Wayland 7 1 Wilbraham 7 1 Andover 6 2 Auburn 6 1 Brockton 6 6 Dracut 6 2 Easthampton 6 1 Lynn 6 6 Roslindale 6 2 Somerville 6 5 Charlestown 5 1 Chelmsford 5 2 Dorchester Center 5 5 Grafton 5 1 Medford 5 3 Peabody 5 3 Sharon 5 1 Shrewsbury 5 2 Sudbury 5 1 Weymouth 5 3 Cambridge 4 5 Leominster 4 2 Ludlow 4 1 Mansfield 4 1 Methuen 4 2 Onset 4 1 Quincy 4 4 Salem 4 2 Walpole 4 1 Waltham 4 3 Wareham 4 1 Westford 4 1 Allston 3 1 Milford 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Norwood 3 1 Plymouth 3 2 Saugus 3 1 Tewksbury 3 1 Amherst 2 1 Braintree 2 1 Dartmouth 2 1 Newton Highlands 2 2 South Boston 2 1 South Dartmouth 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Woburn 2 1 Boston 1 10 East Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 96 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 Worcester 96 107 Barnstable 67 13 Hampden 64 46 Bristol 60 50 Plymouth 57 25 Nantucket 56 2 Berkshire 43 7 Norfolk 43 37 Essex 40 44 Hampshire 38 7 Suffolk 31 63 Middlesex 29 69 Franklin 28 3 Dukes 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/.