Filings Week Ending 2023 March 11

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-03-05 Search Period End: 2023-03-11 Earliest Case: 2023-03-06 Latest Case: 2023-03-10 Total Cases: 754 Total Transfers: 11 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 26.8% Of those, percentage pro se: 63.9% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Southbridge Least stable with 10+ filings: Southbridge Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Worcester Cases per day: 125 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 central 133 17.6% northeast 124 16.4% western 118 15.6% eastern 114 15.1% southeast 92 12.2% metro_south 61 8.1% lowell district 14 1.9% pittsfield district 11 1.5% haverhill district 8 1.1% chelsea district 7 0.9% somerville district 5 0.7% waltham district 5 0.7% brockton district 4 0.5% lawrence district 4 0.5% northern berkshire district 4 0.5% salem district 4 0.5% attleboro district 3 0.4% bmc brighton 3 0.4% malden district 3 0.4% plymouth district 3 0.4% quincy district 3 0.4% woburn district 3 0.4% wrentham district 3 0.4% bmc east boston 2 0.3% cambridge district 2 0.3% dedham district 2 0.3% fall river district 2 0.3% springfield district 2 0.3% ayer district 1 0.1% bmc dorchester 1 0.1% bmc west roxbury 1 0.1% concord district 1 0.1% gloucester district 1 0.1% hingham district 1 0.1% holyoke district 1 0.1% ipswich district 1 0.1% lynn district 1 0.1% newburyport district 1 0.1% newton district 1 0.1% northampton district 1 0.1% palmer district 1 0.1% peabody district 1 0.1% taunton district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 552 2 Natural Person 202 752 Total 754 754 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 73.2% 0.3% Natural Person 26.8% 99.7% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 545 7 552 Optional 73 129 202 Total 618 136 754 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 72.3% 0.9% 73.2% Optional 9.7% 17.1% 26.8% Total 82.0% 18.0% 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 1 2 Optional 6 746 752 Total 7 747 754 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.1% 0.1% 0.3% Optional 0.8% 98.9% 99.7% Total 0.9% 99.1% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 40 5.3% 1 570 75.6% 2 119 15.8% 3 14 1.9% 4 9 1.2% 5 2 0.3% Total 754 100.0% 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 536 71.1% Cause 123 16.3% No Fault 83 11.0% Foreclosure 12 1.6% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Southbridge 77 13 Whitinsville 72 5 East Falmouth 69 4 Fiskdale 64 2 Randolph 49 16 West Wareham 46 1 Gardner 39 8 North Dartmouth 38 9 Fitchburg 32 13 East Taunton 31 2 New Bedford 29 28 Princeton 29 1 Worcester 28 52 Fall River 27 24 Mattapan 24 9 Brockton 23 22 Canton 23 5 Foxborough 23 4 Avon 22 1 Forestdale 22 1 Pittsfield 22 10 Dorchester 21 20 North Adams 21 3 Westborough 21 4 Boxborough 20 1 Norwood 20 6 Chelsea 19 7 East Boston 19 8 Hull 19 2 Warren 19 1 Winchendon 19 2 Roxbury 18 11 Wrentham 18 2 Dudley 17 2 North Attleborough 17 5 South Yarmouth 17 2 Tyngsborough 17 2 Salem 16 7 Wakefield 16 4 Beverly 15 6 Cambridge 15 16 Marlborough 15 6 Clinton 14 2 Rockport 14 1 Swampscott 14 2 Gloucester 13 4 Halifax 13 1 Haverhill 13 8 Revere 13 7 Dedham 12 3 Hamilton 12 1 Northbridge 12 2 Adams 11 1 Charlestown 11 2 Rockland 11 2 Saugus 11 3 Stoughton 11 3 Webster 11 2 Allston 10 3 Auburndale 10 1 Lowell 10 11 Medford 10 6 Roslindale 10 3 Taunton 10 6 Brighton 9 4 East Wareham 9 2 Hingham 9 2 Holbrook 9 1 Leicester 9 1 Maynard 9 1 Peabody 9 5 Lynnfield 8 1 South Boston 8 3 Spencer 8 1 Bedford 7 1 Danvers 7 2 Dorchester Center 7 7 Framingham 7 5 Holliston 7 1 Leominster 7 3 Millbury 7 1 North Andover 7 2 Plymouth 7 4 Raynham 7 1 Abington 6 1 Amesbury 6 1 Ashland 6 1 Auburn 6 1 Natick 6 2 Watertown 6 2 Braintree 5 2 Hudson 5 1 Lynn 5 5 Marblehead 5 1 Sharon 5 1 Sudbury 5 1 Winthrop 5 1 Belmont 4 1 Burlington 4 1 Mansfield 4 1 Quincy 4 4 Stoneham 4 1 Walpole 4 1 Waltham 4 3 Andover 3 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Marshfield 3 1 Somerville 3 3 West Roxbury 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Attleborough 2 1 Boston 2 18 Chelmsford 2 1 E. Boston 2 1 Everett 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 Woburn 2 1 Chicopee 1 1 Lawrence 1 1 Malden 1 1 Springfield 1 2 (not given) 0 216 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 Worcester 104 116 Bristol 93 77 Plymouth 90 39 Berkshire 86 14 Norfolk 57 49 Suffolk 53 105 Essex 46 51 Barnstable 36 7 Middlesex 32 76 Hampden 5 4 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/.