Filings Week Ending 2023 February 11

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-02-05 Search Period End: 2023-02-11 Earliest Case: 2023-02-06 Latest Case: 2023-02-10 Total Cases: 860 Total Transfers: 12 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 28.3% Of those, percentage pro se: 60.1% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Stoughton Least stable with 10+ filings: Stoughton Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Bristol Cases per day: 143 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 eastern 151 17.6% northeast 144 16.7% western 135 15.7% central 116 13.5% southeast 115 13.4% metro_south 74 8.6% malden district 16 1.9% lynn district 11 1.3% lowell district 10 1.2% quincy district 9 1.0% brockton district 7 0.8% fall river district 7 0.8% lawrence district 7 0.8% northern berkshire district 6 0.7% chelsea district 5 0.6% haverhill district 5 0.6% framingham district 4 0.5% new bedford district 4 0.5% salem district 4 0.5% somerville district 4 0.5% attleboro district 3 0.3% pittsfield district 3 0.3% bmc west roxbury 2 0.2% chicopee district 2 0.2% palmer district 2 0.2% barnstable district 1 0.1% bmc roxbury 1 0.1% cambridge district 1 0.1% concord district 1 0.1% dedham district 1 0.1% fallmouth district 1 0.1% greenfield district 1 0.1% holyoke district 1 0.1% milford district 1 0.1% newburyport district 1 0.1% springfield district 1 0.1% stoughton district 1 0.1% waltham district 1 0.1% woburn district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 617 1 Natural Person 243 859 Total 860 860 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 71.7% 0.1% Natural Person 28.3% 99.9% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 597 20 617 Optional 97 146 243 Total 694 166 860 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 69.4% 2.3% 71.7% Optional 11.3% 17.0% 28.3% Total 80.7% 19.3% 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 9 850 859 Total 9 851 860 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% Optional 1.0% 98.8% 99.9% Total 1.0% 99.0% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 75 8.7% 1 602 70.0% 2 154 17.9% 3 13 1.5% 4 11 1.3% 5 5 0.6% Total 860 100.0% 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 571 66.4% Cause 159 18.5% No Fault 123 14.3% Foreclosure 7 0.8% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Stoughton 107 29 Cheshire 61 2 Athol 60 7 Douglas 59 5 Southbridge 47 8 North Billerica 46 5 New Bedford 42 40 Fall River 39 35 Waltham 36 22 Berlin 34 1 East Falmouth 34 2 Gardner 34 7 Rockland 34 6 Malden 31 19 Cotuit 30 1 Mattapan 30 11 Nahant 29 1 East Sandwich 28 1 Jefferson 28 1 South Dennis 27 1 Abington 25 4 Turners Falls 24 1 Webster 23 4 Fitchburg 22 9 Hyannis 21 3 North Adams 21 3 Allston 20 6 Brockton 20 19 North Attleborough 20 6 Worcester 20 38 Canton 18 4 Marlborough 18 7 Leominster 17 7 Lynn 17 16 Ashburnham 16 1 Orleans 16 1 Quincy 16 15 Topsfield 16 1 East Taunton 15 1 Lincoln 15 1 Millbury 15 2 Woburn 15 6 Chelsea 14 5 Hanover 14 2 Milford 14 4 North Andover 14 4 Uxbridge 14 2 Norwood 13 4 Whitman 13 2 Beverly 12 5 East Templeton 12 1 Millis 12 1 Plymouth 12 7 Adams 11 1 Assonet 11 1 Blackstone 11 1 Marshfield 11 3 Saugus 11 3 Hudson 10 2 Taunton 10 6 Attleborough 9 4 East Wareham 9 2 Leicester 9 1 Norwell 9 1 Randolph 9 3 Salem 9 4 South Easton 9 1 Winchendon 9 1 Chelmsford 8 3 Dedham 8 2 Framingham 8 6 Harwich 8 1 Haverhill 8 5 Bedford 7 1 Clinton 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Mashpee 7 1 North Uxbridge 7 1 Amesbury 6 1 Natick 6 2 North Reading 6 1 Northbridge 6 1 Pittsfield 6 3 Charlestown 5 1 Foxborough 5 1 Lawrence 5 4 Marblehead 5 1 Norton 5 1 Westborough 5 1 Hingham 4 1 Middleborough 4 1 North Dartmouth 4 1 Sandwich 4 1 Stoneham 4 1 Walpole 4 1 Chicopee 3 2 East Weymouth 3 2 Franklin 3 1 Gloucester 3 1 Lexington 3 1 Peabody 3 2 Roslindale 3 1 Roxbury 3 2 Somerville 3 3 West Roxbury 3 1 Braintree 2 1 Dorchester 2 2 Everett 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 South Boston 2 1 Brookline 1 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 Medford 1 1 Revere 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 South Weymouth 1 1 Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 347 Boston 0 2 Cambridge 0 1 Lowell 0 1 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 116 96 Plymouth 113 49 Worcester 93 104 Norfolk 78 67 Barnstable 62 12 Berkshire 55 9 Essex 43 48 Middlesex 36 84 Suffolk 18 37 Franklin 9 1 Hampden 5 4 Dukes 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/.