Filings Week Ending 2022 February 19

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-02-13 Search Period End: 2022-02-19 Earliest Case: 2022-02-14 Latest Case: 2022-02-18 Total Cases: 593 Total Transfers: 12 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 38.3% Of those, percentage pro se: 49.3% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Oakham Least stable with 10+ filings: New Bedford Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Berkshire Cases per day: 98 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 southeast 101 17.0% central 96 16.2% western 85 14.3% eastern 82 13.8% northeast 82 13.8% metro_south 56 9.4% pittsfield district 15 2.5% quincy district 9 1.5% fall river district 8 1.3% attleboro district 7 1.2% northern berkshire district 5 0.8% barnstable district 4 0.7% malden district 4 0.7% bmc east boston 3 0.5% brockton district 3 0.5% cambridge district 3 0.5% chelsea district 3 0.5% fallmouth district 3 0.5% somerville district 3 0.5% bmc central 2 0.3% concord district 2 0.3% haverhill district 2 0.3% lynn district 2 0.3% milford district 2 0.3% springfield district 2 0.3% woburn district 2 0.3% wrentham district 2 0.3% bmc brighton 1 0.2% bmc roxbury 1 0.2% dedham district 1 0.2% orleans district 1 0.2% peabody district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 366 5 Natural Person 227 588 Total 593 593 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 61.7% 0.8% Natural Person 38.3% 99.2% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 351 15 366 Optional 115 112 227 Total 466 127 593 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 59.2% 2.5% 61.7% Optional 19.4% 18.9% 38.3% 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 0 5 5 Optional 6 582 588 Total 6 587 593 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.8% 0.8% Optional 1.0% 98.1% 99.2% Total 1.0% 99.0% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 54 9.1% 1 384 64.8% 2 121 20.4% 3 19 3.2% 4 10 1.7% 5 4 0.7% 7 1 0.2% Total 593 100.0% 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 317 53.5% Cause 141 23.8% No Fault 124 20.9% Foreclosure 10 1.7% Unknown/Other 1 0.2% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Oakham 52 1 New Bedford 45 43 Hyannis 42 6 Warren 38 2 Bedford 37 5 North Falmouth 37 1 Wellfleet 36 1 East Falmouth 34 2 Pittsfield 33 15 Brookfield 29 1 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Stoughton 29 8 Chelsea 28 10 East Sandwich 28 1 Rockland 28 5 Edgartown 24 1 Lancaster 24 2 Adams 23 2 Oak Bluffs 22 1 Worcester 22 40 North Adams 21 3 North Brookfield 21 1 Attleborough 20 9 Brewster 20 2 Brockton 20 19 Fall River 20 18 Marstons Mills 20 1 Hanson 19 2 Hull 19 2 Indian Orchard 19 2 Revere 19 10 Yarmouth Port 19 1 Barre 18 1 Lakeville 18 2 Marlborough 18 7 West Yarmouth 18 1 Wrentham 18 2 Lynn 17 16 Southbridge 17 3 Braintree 16 6 Bridgewater 15 4 Dighton 14 1 Fitchburg 14 6 Halifax 13 1 Stoneham 13 3 Whitman 13 2 Millis 12 1 Rutland 12 1 Assonet 11 1 Blackstone 11 1 Framingham 11 8 Hyde Park 11 4 Lowell 11 12 Webster 11 2 Dorchester 10 10 Hudson 10 2 Medford 10 6 Milford 10 3 Quincy 10 10 Sturbridge 10 1 Taunton 10 6 Dorchester Center 9 9 Gardner 9 2 Holbrook 9 1 Leicester 9 1 Maynard 9 1 Natick 9 3 South Easton 9 1 Winchendon 9 1 Athol 8 1 Malden 8 5 Reading 8 2 Rehoboth 8 1 Roxbury 8 5 South Yarmouth 8 1 Wakefield 8 2 Walpole 8 2 Billerica 7 3 Cambridge 7 8 Centerville 7 1 Charlton 7 1 Clinton 7 1 East Boston 7 3 Everett 7 3 Hanover 7 1 Lawrence 7 6 Leominster 7 3 Marshfield 7 2 Mashpee 7 1 North Andover 7 2 Northborough 7 1 Peabody 7 4 Salem 7 3 Saugus 7 2 Abington 6 1 Allston 6 2 Belchertown 6 1 Bellingham 6 1 Haverhill 6 4 Norwood 6 2 Jamaica Plain 5 2 Marblehead 5 1 Mattapan 5 2 South Boston 5 2 Winthrop 5 1 Brighton 4 2 Canton 4 1 E. Boston 4 2 Methuen 4 2 Middleborough 4 1 Wilmington 4 1 Danvers 3 1 East Walpole 3 1 Falmouth 3 1 Melrose 3 1 Needham 3 1 Needham Heights 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Plymouth 3 2 Randolph 3 1 Roslindale 3 1 Tewksbury 3 1 Watertown 3 1 Beverly 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 South Dartmouth 2 1 Woburn 2 1 Boston 1 7 North Weymouth 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 South Weymouth 1 1 Springfield 1 2 Waltham 1 1 Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 109 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 Berkshire 123 20 Barnstable 108 21 Plymouth 101 44 Bristol 99 82 Worcester 69 77 Dukes 48 2 Norfolk 48 41 Essex 38 42 Suffolk 36 73 Middlesex 32 76 Hampden 5 4 Hampshire 5 1 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/.