Filings Week Ending 2022 August 13

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-08-07 Search Period End: 2022-08-13 Earliest Case: 2022-08-08 Latest Case: 2022-08-12 Total Cases: 758 Total Transfers: 24 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 33.6% Of those, percentage pro se: 59.6% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Buzzards Bay Least stable with 10+ filings: Taunton Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Bristol Cases per day: 126 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 144 19.0% central 119 15.7% southeast 112 14.8% eastern 99 13.1% western 99 13.1% metro_south 68 9.0% somerville district 20 2.6% malden district 11 1.5% cambridge district 10 1.3% edgartown district 8 1.1% lowell district 7 0.9% lynn district 7 0.9% quincy district 7 0.9% new bedford district 6 0.8% barnstable district 5 0.7% bmc east boston 4 0.5% haverhill district 4 0.5% chelsea district 3 0.4% attleboro district 2 0.3% brockton district 2 0.3% chicopee district 2 0.3% pittsfield district 2 0.3% salem district 2 0.3% wrentham district 2 0.3% bmc west roxbury 1 0.1% fallmouth district 1 0.1% framingham district 1 0.1% gloucester district 1 0.1% milford district 1 0.1% northampton district 1 0.1% orleans district 1 0.1% palmer district 1 0.1% peabody district 1 0.1% uxbridge district 1 0.1% waltham district 1 0.1% westfield district 1 0.1% woburn district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 503 1 Natural Person 255 757 Total 758 758 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 66.4% 0.1% Natural Person 33.6% 99.9% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 486 17 503 Optional 103 152 255 Total 589 169 758 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 64.1% 2.2% 66.4% Optional 13.6% 20.1% 33.6% 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 1 0 1 Optional 12 745 757 Total 13 745 758 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.1% 0.0% 0.1% Optional 1.6% 98.3% 99.9% Total 1.7% 98.3% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 76 10.0% 1 517 68.2% 2 130 17.2% 3 24 3.2% 4 9 1.2% 5 1 0.1% 8 1 0.1% Total 758 100.0% 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 421 55.5% Cause 167 22.0% No Fault 164 21.6% Foreclosure 5 0.7% Unknown/Other 1 0.1% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Buzzards Bay 116 4 Avon 91 4 West Warren 88 1 Dennis Port 63 2 Bondsville 53 1 Athol 51 6 Edgartown 49 2 Chestnut Hill 47 1 Taunton 44 25 Westborough 43 8 East Dennis 38 1 Carver 34 4 Gardner 34 7 Mendon 34 2 Provincetown 33 1 Somerville 30 23 Princeton 29 1 Hyannis 28 4 Rockland 28 5 Whitinsville 28 2 Worcester 28 51 Fall River 27 24 Sagamore 27 1 New Bedford 26 25 North Grafton 25 2 Foxborough 23 4 Braintree 22 8 Forestdale 22 1 Hanover 21 3 Mattapan 21 8 Fitchburg 19 8 Warren 19 1 Randolph 18 6 West Yarmouth 18 1 Brockton 17 16 East Falmouth 17 1 Mansfield 17 4 North Attleborough 17 5 Quincy 17 16 Winthrop 17 3 Dorchester 16 15 Hopedale 16 1 Ipswich 15 2 Lincoln 15 1 Marlborough 15 6 Chelsea 14 5 East Boston 14 6 Great Barrington 14 1 Hyde Park 14 5 Oxford 14 2 Waltham 14 9 Cohasset 13 1 Revere 13 7 Ashland 12 2 East Templeton 12 1 Northbridge 12 2 Watertown 12 4 Blackstone 11 1 Cambridge 11 12 Douglas 11 1 Pembroke 11 2 Beverly 10 4 Brewster 10 1 Marblehead 10 2 Roslindale 10 3 Southborough 10 1 Canton 9 2 Hanson 9 1 Holbrook 9 1 Nantucket 9 1 Winchendon 9 1 Wrentham 9 1 Belmont 8 2 Dedham 8 2 Dorchester Center 8 8 Lynn 8 8 Medfield 8 1 Rehoboth 8 1 Roxbury 8 5 South Yarmouth 8 1 Spencer 8 1 Walpole 8 2 Bridgewater 7 2 Clinton 7 1 Framingham 7 5 Kingston 7 1 Marshfield 7 2 North Easton 7 1 Salem 7 3 Abington 6 1 Allston 6 2 Bellingham 6 1 Fairhaven 6 1 Haverhill 6 4 Hopkinton 6 1 Natick 6 2 Norwood 6 2 Whitman 6 1 Concord 5 1 Jamaica Plain 5 2 Malden 5 3 Plymouth 5 3 Webster 5 1 Attleborough 4 2 Burlington 4 1 East Wareham 4 1 Everett 4 2 Leominster 4 2 Lowell 4 5 Middleborough 4 1 Pittsfield 4 2 Wareham 4 1 Wilmington 4 1 Chicopee 3 2 Dracut 3 1 East Weymouth 3 2 Gloucester 3 1 Medford 3 2 Milford 3 1 Milton 3 1 South Weymouth 3 2 Stoughton 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Brighton 2 1 E. Boston 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 South Boston 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Woburn 2 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 North Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 243 Boston 0 5 span 0 3 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 106 88 Plymouth 101 44 Worcester 95 106 Barnstable 93 18 Norfolk 69 59 Dukes 48 2 Suffolk 39 77 Middlesex 36 86 Nantucket 28 1 Essex 21 24 Berkshire 18 3 Hampden 5 4 Franklin 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. 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/.