Filings Week Ending 2022 February 12

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-02-06 Search Period End: 2022-02-12 Earliest Case: 2022-02-07 Latest Case: 2022-02-11 Total Cases: 528 Total Transfers: 22 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 36.4% Of those, percentage pro se: 57.3% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: South Egremont Least stable with 10+ filings: Randolph Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 88 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 110 20.8% central 107 20.3% southeast 91 17.2% western 64 12.1% metro_south 46 8.7% eastern 44 8.3% pittsfield district 6 1.1% quincy district 5 0.9% chelsea district 4 0.8% lynn district 4 0.8% attleboro district 3 0.6% bmc east boston 3 0.6% brockton district 3 0.6% lowell district 3 0.6% malden district 3 0.6% wrentham district 3 0.6% bmc west roxbury 2 0.4% chicopee district 2 0.4% fall river district 2 0.4% fallmouth district 2 0.4% haverhill district 2 0.4% palmer district 2 0.4% somerville district 2 0.4% woburn district 2 0.4% bmc south boston 1 0.2% concord district 1 0.2% greenfield district 1 0.2% hingham district 1 0.2% milford district 1 0.2% nantucket district 1 0.2% new bedford district 1 0.2% northern berkshire district 1 0.2% orange district 1 0.2% orleans district 1 0.2% southern berkshire district 1 0.2% stoughton district 1 0.2% waltham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 336 2 Natural Person 192 526 Total 528 528 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 63.6% 0.4% Natural Person 36.4% 99.6% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 317 19 336 Optional 82 110 192 Total 399 129 528 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 60.0% 3.6% 63.6% Optional 15.5% 20.8% 36.4% Total 75.6% 24.4% 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 2 2 Optional 6 520 526 Total 6 522 528 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.4% 0.4% Optional 1.1% 98.5% 99.6% Total 1.1% 98.9% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 41 7.8% 1 372 70.5% 2 104 19.7% 3 10 1.9% 5 1 0.2% Total 528 100.0% 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 56.6% No Fault 123 23.3% Cause 99 18.8% Foreclosure 7 1.3% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count South Egremont 72 1 North Truro 49 1 Randolph 49 16 West Dennis 45 1 Hyannis 35 5 East Falmouth 34 2 Three Rivers 34 1 Provincetown 33 1 North Chelmsford 32 3 Dennis Port 31 1 Worcester 30 55 Webster 29 5 East Sandwich 28 1 Fall River 22 20 Leominster 22 9 Mashpee 21 3 Marstons Mills 20 1 New Bedford 19 19 Holbrook 18 2 Beverly 17 7 Framingham 17 12 Rockland 17 3 Sharon 17 3 Southbridge 17 3 Winthrop 17 3 Chatham 16 1 Lynn 16 15 Pembroke 16 3 East Taunton 15 1 Marshfield 15 4 Dennis 14 2 East Bridgewater 14 2 Lowell 14 15 North Adams 14 2 Swampscott 14 2 East Wareham 13 3 North Reading 13 2 Pittsfield 13 6 Middleborough 12 3 Plainville 12 1 Wakefield 12 3 Chelsea 11 4 Foxborough 11 2 Littleton 11 1 Revere 11 6 Dracut 10 3 Malden 10 6 Norton 10 2 Taunton 10 6 Acton 9 2 Andover 9 3 East Boston 9 4 Fitchburg 9 4 Gardner 9 2 Haverhill 9 6 Lawrence 9 7 Leicester 9 1 Nantucket 9 1 Winchendon 9 1 Athol 8 1 Brockton 8 8 Burlington 8 2 Carver 8 1 Chelmsford 8 3 Lynnfield 8 1 Medfield 8 1 South Yarmouth 8 1 Tyngsborough 8 1 Centerville 7 1 Charlton 7 1 Milford 7 2 North Easton 7 1 Plymouth 7 4 Quincy 7 7 Seekonk 7 1 Wilbraham 7 1 Ashland 6 1 Auburn 6 1 Falmouth 6 2 Franklin 6 2 Gloucester 6 2 Hopkinton 6 1 Natick 6 2 Northbridge 6 1 Roslindale 6 2 Whitman 6 1 Charlestown 5 1 Grafton 5 1 Greenfield 5 1 Marlborough 5 2 Scituate 5 1 Shrewsbury 5 2 Canton 4 1 Dedham 4 1 Everett 4 2 Hingham 4 1 Mansfield 4 1 Methuen 4 2 Sandwich 4 1 Walpole 4 1 Chicopee 3 2 East Weymouth 3 2 Medford 3 2 Melrose 3 1 Needham 3 1 South Weymouth 3 2 Stoughton 3 1 Watertown 3 1 Weymouth 3 2 Attleborough 2 1 Billerica 2 1 Braintree 2 1 Cambridge 2 3 Dorchester 2 2 E. Boston 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 Mattapan 2 1 Salem 2 1 South Boston 2 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 North Weymouth 1 1 Somerville 1 1 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 120 Boston 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 Barnstable 124 24 Worcester 79 89 Plymouth 78 34 Bristol 63 52 Berkshire 55 9 Norfolk 55 47 Essex 41 46 Middlesex 30 72 Nantucket 28 1 Suffolk 14 29 Franklin 9 1 Hampden 5 4 Dukes 0 0 Hampshire 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/.