Filings Week Ending 2021 November 20

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-11-14 Search Period End: 2021-11-20 Earliest Case: 2021-11-15 Latest Case: 2021-11-19 Total Cases: 505 Total Transfers: 12 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 36.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 49.2% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: North Falmouth Least stable with 10+ filings: Fall River Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Bristol Cases per day: 84 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 98 19.4% northeast 86 17.0% southeast 85 16.8% western 71 14.1% metro_south 55 10.9% eastern 36 7.1% cambridge district 9 1.8% fall river district 9 1.8% quincy district 8 1.6% lowell district 7 1.4% bmc west roxbury 6 1.2% barnstable district 3 0.6% waltham district 3 0.6% woburn district 3 0.6% bmc east boston 2 0.4% dedham district 2 0.4% eastern hampshire district 2 0.4% malden district 2 0.4% salem district 2 0.4% somerville district 2 0.4% wareham district 2 0.4% bmc central 1 0.2% clinton district 1 0.2% fallmouth district 1 0.2% holyoke district 1 0.2% lynn district 1 0.2% newburyport district 1 0.2% northampton district 1 0.2% orleans district 1 0.2% pittsfield district 1 0.2% springfield district 1 0.2% stoughton district 1 0.2% westfield district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 322 0 Natural Person 183 505 Total 505 505 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 63.8% 0.0% Natural Person 36.2% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 314 8 322 Optional 93 90 183 Total 407 98 505 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 62.2% 1.6% 63.8% Optional 18.4% 17.8% 36.2% Total 80.6% 19.4% 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 12 493 505 Total 12 493 505 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Optional 2.4% 97.6% 100.0% Total 2.4% 97.6% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 28 5.5% 1 338 66.9% 2 118 23.4% 3 11 2.2% 4 9 1.8% 11 1 0.2% Total 505 100.0% 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 279 55.2% Cause 108 21.4% No Fault 106 21.0% Foreclosure 12 2.4% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count North Falmouth 74 2 South Easton 58 6 Southbridge 41 7 Fall River 27 24 South Dennis 27 1 Westminster 27 2 Ayer 26 2 Gardner 24 5 New Bedford 24 23 Randolph 24 8 West Newbury 23 1 Avon 22 1 Lawrence 22 17 Milford 21 6 Northborough 21 3 Paxton 20 1 Quincy 20 19 Roslindale 20 6 Worcester 20 37 East Falmouth 17 1 North Andover 17 5 Spencer 17 2 Mattapoisett 16 1 Brockton 15 15 Dighton 14 1 Hyannis 14 2 Lowell 14 15 Seekonk 14 2 Uxbridge 14 2 Weymouth 14 8 Whitinsville 14 1 East Wareham 13 3 Onset 13 3 Upton 13 1 Amesbury 12 2 Boxford 12 1 Fairhaven 12 2 Lancaster 12 1 Marlborough 12 5 Middleborough 12 3 Taunton 12 7 Blackstone 11 1 Framingham 11 8 Littleton 11 1 Somerset 11 2 Webster 11 2 Ware 10 1 Cambridge 9 10 Haverhill 9 6 Holbrook 9 1 Lunenburg 9 1 Athol 8 1 Carver 8 1 Harwich 8 1 Medfield 8 1 Methuen 8 4 South Yarmouth 8 1 Arlington 7 3 Bedford 7 1 Charlton 7 1 Hanover 7 1 Holliston 7 1 Mashpee 7 1 Oxford 7 1 South Weymouth 7 4 Abington 6 1 Allston 6 2 Auburn 6 1 Bellingham 6 1 North Attleborough 6 2 Norwood 6 2 Swansea 6 1 Whitman 6 1 Chelsea 5 2 Dartmouth 5 2 Dorchester Center 5 5 Newburyport 5 1 Norton 5 1 Roxbury 5 3 Roxbury Crossing 5 3 Shrewsbury 5 2 South Hadley 5 1 Woburn 5 2 Acton 4 1 Attleborough 4 2 E. Boston 4 2 East Boston 4 2 Hingham 4 1 Leominster 4 2 Mansfield 4 1 Pittsfield 4 2 Walpole 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Winchester 4 1 Agawam 3 1 Andover 3 1 Dorchester 3 3 Dracut 3 1 Malden 3 2 Medford 3 2 Needham 3 1 Plymouth 3 2 Stoughton 3 1 Tewksbury 3 1 Waltham 3 2 West Roxbury 3 1 Beverly 2 1 Fitchburg 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 Lynn 2 2 Salem 2 1 Somerville 2 2 Springfield 2 4 Newton 1 1 Revere 1 1 (not given) 0 109 Boston 0 5 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 Bristol 92 76 Plymouth 76 33 Worcester 72 81 Norfolk 56 48 Barnstable 46 9 Essex 38 42 Middlesex 26 61 Suffolk 17 35 Berkshire 12 2 Hampshire 10 2 Hampden 8 6 Dukes 0 0 Franklin 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/.