Filings Week Ending 2022 July 16

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-07-10 Search Period End: 2022-07-16 Earliest Case: 2022-07-11 Latest Case: 2022-07-15 Total Cases: 646 Total Transfers: 22 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 35.4% Of those, percentage pro se: 53.3% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Royalston Least stable with 10+ filings: Bellingham Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Bristol Cases per day: 107 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 109 16.9% northeast 108 16.7% western 97 15.0% southeast 96 14.9% eastern 86 13.3% metro_south 69 10.7% malden district 10 1.5% quincy district 8 1.2% wrentham district 5 0.8% framingham district 4 0.6% lowell district 4 0.6% lynn district 4 0.6% bmc west roxbury 3 0.5% cambridge district 3 0.5% chelsea district 3 0.5% haverhill district 3 0.5% newburyport district 3 0.5% orleans district 3 0.5% attleboro district 2 0.3% barnstable district 2 0.3% brockton district 2 0.3% clinton district 2 0.3% northern berkshire district 2 0.3% pittsfield district 2 0.3% somerville district 2 0.3% springfield district 2 0.3% stoughton district 2 0.3% ayer district 1 0.2% bmc brighton 1 0.2% brookline district 1 0.2% fall river district 1 0.2% milford district 1 0.2% new bedford district 1 0.2% northampton district 1 0.2% taunton district 1 0.2% waltham district 1 0.2% westfield district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 417 2 Natural Person 229 644 Total 646 646 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 64.6% 0.3% Natural Person 35.4% 99.7% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 404 13 417 Optional 107 122 229 Total 511 135 646 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 62.5% 2.0% 64.6% Optional 16.6% 18.9% 35.4% Total 79.1% 20.9% 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 11 633 644 Total 11 635 646 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.3% 0.3% Optional 1.7% 98.0% 99.7% Total 1.7% 98.3% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 50 7.7% 1 453 70.1% 2 115 17.8% 3 21 3.3% 4 5 0.8% 5 2 0.3% Total 646 100.0% 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 330 51.1% No Fault 157 24.3% Cause 143 22.1% Foreclosure 14 2.2% Unknown/Other 2 0.3% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Royalston 79 1 Bellingham 73 12 Athol 60 7 Buzzards Bay 58 2 West Brookfield 54 2 North Brookfield 42 2 Berlin 34 1 Fiskdale 32 1 Framingham 32 22 Dennis Port 31 1 Quincy 30 28 Brookfield 29 1 Clinton 29 4 Foxborough 29 5 Gardner 29 6 Lunenburg 29 3 New Bedford 27 26 South Dennis 27 1 Fall River 24 22 Fitchburg 24 10 North Dighton 23 1 Webster 23 4 Forestdale 22 1 Brewster 20 2 Eastham 20 1 Braintree 19 7 Worcester 18 33 Southbridge 17 3 Spencer 17 2 Taunton 17 10 Mattapoisett 16 1 East Taunton 15 1 Malden 15 9 Merrimac 15 1 Dighton 14 1 Uxbridge 14 2 Attleborough 13 6 Shirley 13 1 Upton 13 1 Lancaster 12 1 North Dartmouth 12 3 North Grafton 12 1 Plainville 12 1 Adams 11 1 Marshfield 11 3 Pembroke 11 2 Weymouth 11 6 Auburndale 10 1 Southborough 10 1 Franklin 9 3 Holbrook 9 1 Hull 9 1 Indian Orchard 9 1 Randolph 9 3 Wareham 9 2 Brockton 8 8 Harwich 8 1 Hyde Park 8 3 Middleborough 8 2 Norfolk 8 1 Plymouth 8 5 Hyannis 7 1 Kingston 7 1 North Adams 7 1 Northborough 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Amesbury 6 1 Ashland 6 1 Dorchester 6 6 Fairhaven 6 1 Haverhill 6 4 North Attleborough 6 2 Northbridge 6 1 Westport 6 1 Whitman 6 1 Lynn 5 5 Marlborough 5 2 Mattapan 5 2 Medford 5 3 Norton 5 1 Revere 5 3 Canton 4 1 Dedham 4 1 East Wareham 4 1 Mansfield 4 1 Onset 4 1 Walpole 4 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Dorchester Center 3 3 Lowell 3 4 Needham 3 1 South Weymouth 3 2 Stoughton 3 1 Wellesley 3 1 West Roxbury 3 1 Brighton 2 1 Cambridge 2 3 Chelsea 2 1 Leominster 2 1 Pittsfield 2 1 East Weymouth 1 1 Newton 1 1 Somerville 1 1 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 278 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 Bristol 92 76 Norfolk 89 76 Worcester 80 90 Plymouth 67 29 Barnstable 51 10 Middlesex 21 49 Berkshire 18 3 Essex 10 11 Suffolk 10 20 Hampden 2 2 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. Methodology changes: 2022-03: Where docket history shows judgment and/or execution, but case has not been disposed, infer judgment and/or execution. 2022-05: Correct counting error in 'By prevailing party' section where agreement for judgment renders prevailing party unknown. Rows now sum to total. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.