Filings Week Ending 2022 December 31

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-12-25 Search Period End: 2022-12-31 Earliest Case: 2022-12-26 Latest Case: 2022-12-30 Total Cases: 560 Total Transfers: 17 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 22.3% Of those, percentage pro se: 55.2% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Buzzards Bay Least stable with 10+ filings: Everett Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 93 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 119 21.2% western 113 20.2% central 75 13.4% eastern 66 11.8% southeast 56 10.0% metro_south 42 7.5% malden district 16 2.9% quincy district 12 2.1% lynn district 9 1.6% barnstable district 6 1.1% bmc west roxbury 6 1.1% brockton district 5 0.9% northern berkshire district 4 0.7% lawrence district 3 0.5% salem district 3 0.5% somerville district 3 0.5% haverhill district 2 0.4% lowell district 2 0.4% new bedford district 2 0.4% peabody district 2 0.4% woburn district 2 0.4% attleboro district 1 0.2% ayer district 1 0.2% bmc east boston 1 0.2% cambridge district 1 0.2% fallmouth district 1 0.2% holyoke district 1 0.2% ipswich district 1 0.2% milford district 1 0.2% newburyport district 1 0.2% southern berkshire district 1 0.2% springfield district 1 0.2% westfield district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 435 2 Natural Person 125 558 Total 560 560 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 77.7% 0.4% Natural Person 22.3% 99.6% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 429 6 435 Optional 56 69 125 Total 485 75 560 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 76.6% 1.1% 77.7% Optional 10.0% 12.3% 22.3% Total 86.6% 13.4% 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 2 2 Optional 6 552 558 Total 6 554 560 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.4% 0.4% Optional 1.1% 98.6% 99.6% Total 1.1% 98.9% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 31 5.5% 1 430 76.8% 2 87 15.5% 3 9 1.6% 4 3 0.5% Total 560 100.0% 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 433 77.3% Cause 71 12.7% No Fault 50 8.9% Foreclosure 6 1.1% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Buzzards Bay 58 2 Hinsdale 49 1 West Townsend 47 1 Avon 45 2 Southbridge 41 7 West Yarmouth 37 2 North Adams 36 5 Middleborough 34 8 Cheshire 30 1 East Sandwich 28 1 Everett 28 12 Jefferson 28 1 West Brookfield 27 1 Bridgewater 22 6 Fitchburg 22 9 Hyannis 21 3 Milford 21 6 Roslindale 20 6 Winchendon 19 2 Dover 17 1 East Falmouth 17 1 Mansfield 17 4 New Bedford 17 17 Rowley 17 1 Worcester 17 31 Hopedale 16 1 Westborough 16 3 Randolph 15 5 Gardner 14 3 Great Barrington 14 1 Mashpee 14 2 West Bridgewater 14 1 Weymouth 14 8 Norwood 13 4 Quincy 11 11 Rockland 11 2 Sutton 11 1 Webster 11 2 Brockton 10 10 Fall River 9 8 Holbrook 9 1 Norwell 9 1 Lynn 8 8 South Yarmouth 8 1 Spencer 8 1 Taunton 8 5 Ipswich 7 1 Melrose 7 2 Stoughton 7 2 Allston 6 2 Bellingham 6 1 Whitman 6 1 Chelsea 5 2 Foxborough 5 1 Framingham 5 4 Marlborough 5 2 Pembroke 5 1 South Dartmouth 5 2 Canton 4 1 Hingham 4 1 Leominster 4 2 Salem 4 2 Sandwich 4 1 Wakefield 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Agawam 3 1 Franklin 3 1 Gloucester 3 1 Haverhill 3 2 Lawrence 3 3 Malden 3 2 North Attleborough 3 1 Peabody 3 2 Saugus 3 1 Attleborough 2 1 Beverly 2 1 Braintree 2 1 E. Boston 2 1 East Boston 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 Somerville 2 2 Westfield 2 1 Woburn 2 1 Chicopee 1 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 Lowell 1 2 Medford 1 1 Plymouth 1 1 Revere 1 1 Springfield 1 2 (not given) 0 286 Cambridge 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 Plymouth 76 33 Barnstable 67 13 Worcester 62 70 Berkshire 49 8 Bristol 46 38 Norfolk 45 39 Essex 20 22 Middlesex 13 31 Hampden 8 6 Suffolk 7 14 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/.