Filings Week Ending 2023 February 04

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-01-29 Search Period End: 2023-02-04 Earliest Case: 2023-01-30 Latest Case: 2023-02-03 Total Cases: 890 Total Transfers: 25 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 17.4% Of those, percentage pro se: 51.0% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Housatonic Least stable with 10+ filings: Leominster Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 148 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 statistically significantly above the pre-pandemic housing crisis baseline. -- Courts (n) Count Percent western 168 18.9% eastern 160 18.0% northeast 124 13.9% central 118 13.3% metro_south 90 10.1% southeast 88 9.9% lawrence district 16 1.8% springfield district 15 1.7% lynn district 14 1.6% lowell district 10 1.1% fall river district 9 1.0% somerville district 9 1.0% quincy district 8 0.9% cambridge district 7 0.8% malden district 7 0.8% southern berkshire district 6 0.7% chelsea district 5 0.6% woburn district 5 0.6% brockton district 3 0.3% chicopee district 3 0.3% worcester district 3 0.3% attleboro district 2 0.2% natick district 2 0.2% peabody district 2 0.2% pittsfield district 2 0.2% plymouth district 2 0.2% waltham district 2 0.2% ayer district 1 0.1% bmc east boston 1 0.1% concord district 1 0.1% fallmouth district 1 0.1% framingham district 1 0.1% gloucester district 1 0.1% haverhill district 1 0.1% orleans district 1 0.1% salem district 1 0.1% wrentham district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 735 2 Natural Person 155 888 Total 890 890 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 82.6% 0.2% Natural Person 17.4% 99.8% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 717 18 735 Optional 76 79 155 Total 793 97 890 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 80.6% 2.0% 82.6% Optional 8.5% 8.9% 17.4% Total 89.1% 10.9% 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 19 869 888 Total 19 871 890 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.2% 0.2% Optional 2.1% 97.6% 99.8% Total 2.1% 97.9% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 30 3.4% 1 696 78.2% 2 138 15.5% 3 20 2.2% 4 5 0.6% 5 1 0.1% Total 890 100.0% 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 714 80.2% Cause 98 11.0% No Fault 76 8.5% Foreclosure 2 0.2% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Housatonic 132 1 Gilbertville 86 1 West Stockbridge 76 1 Great Barrington 56 4 Leominster 56 23 West Yarmouth 56 3 Norwood 48 14 North Oxford 44 1 Salem 43 18 Danvers 41 11 Marlborough 41 16 West Springfield 38 11 Fall River 37 33 Raynham 37 5 Stoughton 37 10 Acton 36 8 Mendon 34 2 Lynn 33 30 Orleans 33 2 Bridgewater 30 8 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Hanover 28 4 Lakeville 28 3 Osterville 28 1 South Dennis 27 1 Westborough 27 5 Brockton 25 24 Rutland 25 2 Fitchburg 24 10 Quincy 24 23 North Dighton 23 1 Clinton 22 3 East Wareham 22 5 Millbury 22 3 Brewster 20 2 Lunenburg 19 2 Warren 19 1 Yarmouth Port 19 1 North Billerica 18 2 Dudley 17 2 East Falmouth 17 1 Lawrence 17 13 Spencer 17 2 Chatham 16 1 Medford 16 9 Worcester 16 30 Bedford 15 2 Peabody 15 8 Dalton 14 1 Holliston 14 2 Cohasset 13 1 Whitman 13 2 Foxborough 11 2 Framingham 11 8 Melrose 11 3 Newburyport 11 2 Revere 11 6 Southbridge 11 2 Weymouth 11 6 Malden 10 6 Marblehead 10 2 New Bedford 10 10 North Andover 10 3 Andover 9 3 Canton 9 2 Hanson 9 1 Hull 9 1 Lowell 9 10 Randolph 9 3 Stoneham 9 2 Wareham 9 2 Winchendon 9 1 Belmont 8 2 Carver 8 1 Middleborough 8 2 South Yarmouth 8 1 Taunton 8 5 Waltham 8 5 Centerville 7 1 Everett 7 3 Hyannis 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Swampscott 7 1 Ashland 6 1 Attleborough 6 3 Fairhaven 6 1 Haverhill 6 4 Natick 6 2 North Attleborough 6 2 Beverly 5 2 Chelsea 5 2 Chicopee 5 3 East Weymouth 5 3 Hudson 5 1 Mattapan 5 2 Norton 5 1 Webster 5 1 Arlington 4 2 Burlington 4 1 Cambridge 4 5 Gardner 4 1 Methuen 4 2 Onset 4 1 Reading 4 1 Sandwich 4 1 Falmouth 3 1 Gloucester 3 1 Marshfield 3 1 Milford 3 1 Plymouth 3 2 Saugus 3 1 Braintree 2 1 Dorchester 2 2 E. Boston 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 Pittsfield 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 Somerville 2 2 Springfield 2 4 Woburn 2 1 Roxbury 1 1 (not given) 0 357 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 134 58 Barnstable 93 18 Essex 91 101 Worcester 84 94 Norfolk 76 65 Bristol 74 61 Berkshire 49 8 Middlesex 40 94 Hampden 25 18 Suffolk 8 16 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. 2023-01: We now report dispositions on the basis of the last disposition found in a docket. Previously we were using a prioritized keyword match, which produced inaccurate results for complex cases. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.