Filings Week Ending 2021 December 18

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-12-12 Search Period End: 2021-12-18 Earliest Case: 2021-12-13 Latest Case: 2021-12-17 Total Cases: 585 Total Transfers: 13 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 36.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 50.0% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Berlin Least stable with 10+ filings: Southbridge Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Worcester Cases per day: 97 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 119 20.3% western 100 17.1% northeast 94 16.1% southeast 85 14.5% eastern 81 13.8% metro_south 32 5.5% quincy district 12 2.1% fall river district 6 1.0% lynn district 6 1.0% lawrence district 5 0.9% bmc west roxbury 3 0.5% brockton district 3 0.5% chelsea district 3 0.5% lowell district 3 0.5% malden district 3 0.5% wareham district 3 0.5% attleboro district 2 0.3% bmc east boston 2 0.3% fallmouth district 2 0.3% haverhill district 2 0.3% northern berkshire district 2 0.3% waltham district 2 0.3% woburn district 2 0.3% barnstable district 1 0.2% bmc brighton 1 0.2% cambridge district 1 0.2% concord district 1 0.2% gloucester district 1 0.2% milford district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% orleans district 1 0.2% pittsfield district 1 0.2% somerville district 1 0.2% springfield district 1 0.2% stoughton district 1 0.2% taunton district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 373 2 Natural Person 212 583 Total 585 585 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 63.8% 0.3% Natural Person 36.2% 99.7% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 354 19 373 Optional 106 106 212 Total 460 125 585 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 60.5% 3.2% 63.8% Optional 18.1% 18.1% 36.2% Total 78.6% 21.4% 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 1 1 2 Optional 4 579 583 Total 5 580 585 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% Optional 0.7% 99.0% 99.7% Total 0.9% 99.1% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 45 7.7% 1 393 67.2% 2 116 19.8% 3 17 2.9% 4 9 1.5% 5 4 0.7% 6 1 0.2% Total 585 100.0% 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 299 51.1% Cause 140 23.9% No Fault 135 23.1% Foreclosure 11 1.9% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Berlin 104 3 West Chatham 78 1 East Taunton 62 4 Southbridge 59 10 Gardner 39 8 Salisbury 36 3 East Falmouth 34 2 Fitchburg 34 14 Mendon 34 2 Mattapoisett 33 2 New Bedford 33 32 East Sandwich 28 1 Jefferson 28 1 Whitinsville 28 2 Newton Center 25 1 Webster 23 4 Worcester 23 43 Newburyport 22 4 East Freetown 20 1 Marion 20 1 Braintree 19 7 Fall River 19 17 Newtonville 19 1 West Yarmouth 18 1 Rowley 17 1 South Yarmouth 17 2 Spencer 17 2 Haverhill 16 10 Methuen 16 8 Groveland 15 1 Marlborough 15 6 Merrimac 15 1 Leominster 14 6 North Adams 14 2 Brockton 13 13 Hingham 13 3 Bellingham 12 2 Lowell 12 13 Plainville 12 1 Chelsea 11 4 Rockland 11 2 Framingham 10 7 Lawrence 10 8 Norton 10 2 Roslindale 10 3 Acushnet 9 1 Cherry Valley 9 1 Dorchester Center 9 9 Holbrook 9 1 Hull 9 1 Lakeville 9 1 Maynard 9 1 North Billerica 9 1 Randolph 9 3 West Roxbury 9 3 Dudley 8 1 Harwich 8 1 Mattapan 8 3 Plymouth 8 5 Shrewsbury 8 3 East Boston 7 3 Mashpee 7 1 Medford 7 4 Milford 7 2 North Andover 7 2 Quincy 7 7 Revere 7 4 Swampscott 7 1 Wayland 7 1 Abington 6 1 Allston 6 2 Andover 6 2 Ashland 6 1 Dorchester 6 6 Franklin 6 2 Hopkinton 6 1 Northbridge 6 1 Norwood 6 2 Whitman 6 1 Chelmsford 5 2 East Weymouth 5 3 Hudson 5 1 Lynn 5 5 Roxbury 5 3 Somerville 5 4 Taunton 5 3 Woburn 5 2 Attleborough 4 2 Mansfield 4 1 Middleborough 4 1 Sandwich 4 1 Wakefield 4 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Dracut 3 1 Falmouth 3 1 Malden 3 2 Marshfield 3 1 Melrose 3 1 Milton 3 1 Needham 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Stoughton 3 1 Tewksbury 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Cambridge 2 3 E. Boston 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Pittsfield 2 1 Brookline 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 185 Boston 0 5 Springfield 0 1 span 0 2 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 92 103 Bristol 77 64 Plymouth 76 33 Barnstable 56 11 Essex 41 46 Norfolk 38 33 Middlesex 24 56 Suffolk 24 48 Berkshire 18 3 Hampden 1 1 Dukes 0 0 Franklin 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/.