Filings Week Ending 2022 March 12

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-03-06 Search Period End: 2022-03-12 Earliest Case: 2022-03-07 Latest Case: 2022-03-11 Total Cases: 571 Total Transfers: 14 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 39.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 54.0% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Vineyard Haven Least stable with 10+ filings: Fall River Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 95 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 134 23.5% central 94 16.5% southeast 92 16.1% western 70 12.3% eastern 67 11.7% metro_south 48 8.4% lynn district 7 1.2% northern berkshire district 6 1.1% attleboro district 5 0.9% pittsfield district 5 0.9% brockton district 4 0.7% dedham district 4 0.7% chelsea district 3 0.5% fall river district 3 0.5% framingham district 3 0.5% haverhill district 3 0.5% quincy district 3 0.5% somerville district 3 0.5% bmc brighton 2 0.4% bmc west roxbury 2 0.4% malden district 2 0.4% orleans district 2 0.4% bmc central 1 0.2% brookline district 1 0.2% lowell district 1 0.2% nantucket district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% plymouth district 1 0.2% springfield district 1 0.2% stoughton district 1 0.2% wareham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 347 2 Natural Person 224 569 Total 571 571 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 60.8% 0.4% Natural Person 39.2% 99.6% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 333 14 347 Optional 103 121 224 Total 436 135 571 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 58.3% 2.5% 60.8% Optional 18.0% 21.2% 39.2% Total 76.4% 23.6% 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 10 559 569 Total 10 561 571 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.4% 0.4% Optional 1.8% 97.9% 99.6% Total 1.8% 98.2% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 46 8.1% 1 395 69.2% 2 104 18.2% 3 18 3.2% 4 8 1.4% Total 571 100.0% 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 296 51.8% No Fault 151 26.4% Cause 110 19.3% Foreclosure 14 2.5% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Vineyard Haven 105 2 West Warren 88 1 West Yarmouth 56 3 South Dennis 54 2 Baldwinville 52 1 Chestnut Hill 47 1 West Dennis 45 1 North Adams 43 6 Dudley 35 4 Hyannis 35 5 Plympton 35 1 Pocasset 34 1 Fall River 30 27 Lunenburg 29 3 Webster 29 5 Winchendon 29 3 Chelsea 28 10 Athol 25 3 Newton Center 25 1 Haverhill 24 15 Taunton 23 13 Avon 22 1 Revere 21 11 Westborough 21 4 Worcester 19 36 Auburn 18 3 Barre 18 1 Marlborough 18 7 Norwood 17 5 Sharon 17 3 South Yarmouth 17 2 East Taunton 15 1 Kingston 15 2 Lowell 15 16 Hanover 14 2 Lynn 14 13 Braintree 13 5 North Attleborough 13 4 Whitman 13 2 Bellingham 12 2 Billerica 12 5 Brockton 12 12 Lancaster 12 1 Middleborough 12 3 New Bedford 12 12 North Dartmouth 12 3 Attleborough 11 5 Blackstone 11 1 Charlestown 11 2 Foxborough 11 2 Pittsfield 11 5 Scituate 11 2 Stoughton 11 3 Winthrop 11 2 Brewster 10 1 Framingham 10 7 Sturbridge 10 1 Acton 9 2 Acushnet 9 1 East Boston 9 4 Fitchburg 9 4 Gardner 9 2 Leicester 9 1 Maynard 9 1 Quincy 9 9 Burlington 8 2 Dorchester 8 8 Harwich 8 1 Jamaica Plain 8 3 Spencer 8 1 Centerville 7 1 Charlton 7 1 Millbury 7 1 North Easton 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Saugus 7 2 South Weymouth 7 4 Swampscott 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Wayland 7 1 Weymouth 7 4 Abington 6 1 Allston 6 2 Waltham 6 4 Westwood 6 1 Beverly 5 2 Malden 5 3 Medford 5 3 Norton 5 1 Plymouth 5 3 Roxbury 5 3 Dedham 4 1 Leominster 4 2 Mansfield 4 1 Onset 4 1 Reading 4 1 Wakefield 4 1 Wilmington 4 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Dorchester Center 3 3 Franklin 3 1 Marshfield 3 1 Melrose 3 1 Milford 3 1 Needham Heights 3 1 North Andover 3 1 Randolph 3 1 Roslindale 3 1 Somerville 3 3 Watertown 3 1 West Roxbury 3 1 Cambridge 2 3 Chelmsford 2 1 Dartmouth 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Lawrence 2 2 Methuen 2 1 South Boston 2 1 Boston 1 12 Newton 1 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 North Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 145 Springfield 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 88 17 Bristol 85 70 Worcester 73 82 Plymouth 71 31 Berkshire 68 11 Norfolk 52 45 Dukes 48 2 Essex 33 37 Suffolk 32 64 Middlesex 28 66 Hampden 1 1 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. Methodology changes: 2022-03: Where docket history shows judgment and/or execution, analyze judgment and/or execution regardless of whether disposition is still pending. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.