Filings Week Ending 2022 August 06

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-07-31 Search Period End: 2022-08-06 Earliest Case: 2022-08-01 Latest Case: 2022-08-05 Total Cases: 664 Total Transfers: 15 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 35.8% Of those, percentage pro se: 55.9% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: West Warren Least stable with 10+ filings: Fall River Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 110 Housing crisis baseline max cases per day (UCL): 1306 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 136 20.5% northeast 99 14.9% western 91 13.7% southeast 82 12.3% eastern 67 10.1% metro_south 53 8.0% brockton district 14 2.1% lynn district 14 2.1% springfield district 13 2.0% chicopee district 12 1.8% quincy district 11 1.7% somerville district 8 1.2% waltham district 8 1.2% bmc east boston 6 0.9% malden district 6 0.9% pittsfield district 5 0.8% chelsea district 4 0.6% fall river district 4 0.6% taunton district 3 0.5% attleboro district 2 0.3% bmc west roxbury 2 0.3% new bedford district 2 0.3% salem district 2 0.3% westfield district 2 0.3% ayer district 1 0.2% barnstable district 1 0.2% bmc brighton 1 0.2% concord district 1 0.2% dedham district 1 0.2% edgartown district 1 0.2% gloucester district 1 0.2% haverhill district 1 0.2% hingham district 1 0.2% lowell district 1 0.2% northampton district 1 0.2% northern berkshire district 1 0.2% palmer district 1 0.2% peabody district 1 0.2% southern berkshire district 1 0.2% wareham district 1 0.2% woburn district 1 0.2% wrentham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 426 1 Natural Person 238 663 Total 664 664 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 64.2% 0.2% Natural Person 35.8% 99.8% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 411 15 426 Optional 105 133 238 Total 516 148 664 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 61.9% 2.3% 64.2% Optional 15.8% 20.0% 35.8% Total 77.7% 22.3% 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 1 1 Optional 12 651 663 Total 12 652 664 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.2% 0.2% Optional 1.8% 98.0% 99.8% Total 1.8% 98.2% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 51 7.7% 1 488 73.5% 2 103 15.5% 3 14 2.1% 4 6 0.9% 5 2 0.3% Total 664 100.0% 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 420 63.3% No Fault 126 19.0% Cause 115 17.3% Foreclosure 3 0.5% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count West Warren 88 1 Dennis Port 63 2 Spencer 51 6 Attleboro Falls 50 1 Edgartown 49 2 North Oxford 44 1 Fall River 36 32 Framingham 36 25 Foxborough 35 6 Webster 35 6 West Springfield 35 10 Uxbridge 29 4 Essex 28 1 Randolph 28 9 West Bridgewater 28 2 Whitinsville 28 2 Norton 26 5 Fitchburg 24 10 Sherborn 24 1 Worcester 24 44 Brockton 23 22 Boylston 22 1 Chicopee 21 12 Westborough 21 4 Eastham 20 1 Marion 20 1 Hanson 19 2 Lunenburg 19 2 East Falmouth 17 1 Quincy 17 16 East Taunton 15 1 Marlborough 15 6 Watertown 15 5 East Boston 14 6 Leominster 14 6 Lynn 14 13 Medford 14 8 Milford 14 4 New Bedford 14 14 Stoughton 14 4 Halifax 13 1 Millis 12 1 Taunton 12 7 Adams 11 1 Attleborough 11 5 Chelsea 11 4 Monson 11 1 Pittsfield 11 5 Revere 11 6 Rockland 11 2 Sharon 11 2 Winthrop 11 2 Brewster 10 1 Dorchester 10 10 Somerville 10 8 Acushnet 9 1 Brighton 9 4 E. Boston 9 4 Maynard 9 1 South Easton 9 1 Wareham 9 2 Winchendon 9 1 Athol 8 1 Dudley 8 1 South Yarmouth 8 1 Wakefield 8 2 East Bridgewater 7 1 Hanover 7 1 Hyannis 7 1 Mashpee 7 1 Medway 7 1 Millbury 7 1 Northborough 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Raynham 7 1 Wayland 7 1 Weymouth 7 4 Allston 6 2 Auburn 6 1 North Attleborough 6 2 Northbridge 6 1 West Roxbury 6 2 Braintree 5 2 Charlestown 5 1 East Weymouth 5 3 Holden 5 1 Hyde Park 5 2 Jamaica Plain 5 2 Scituate 5 1 South Hadley 5 1 Southbridge 5 1 Belmont 4 1 Dedham 4 1 East Wareham 4 1 Easton 4 1 Hingham 4 1 Ludlow 4 1 Walpole 4 1 Waltham 4 3 Westfield 4 2 Westford 4 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Malden 3 2 Melrose 3 1 Natick 3 1 Norwood 3 1 Peabody 3 2 Plymouth 3 2 Roslindale 3 1 Roxbury 3 2 Roxbury Crossing 3 2 Saugus 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Beverly 2 1 Cambridge 2 3 Dorchester Center 2 2 Everett 2 1 Mattapan 2 1 Salem 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 South Dartmouth 2 1 Woburn 2 1 Haverhill 1 1 South Weymouth 1 1 Springfield 1 2 (not given) 0 197 Boston 0 5 Lowell 0 1 span 0 5 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 Plymouth 92 40 Worcester 91 102 Bristol 87 72 Norfolk 61 52 Dukes 48 2 Barnstable 41 8 Hampden 39 28 Berkshire 37 6 Middlesex 31 73 Suffolk 29 58 Essex 18 20 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. 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/.