Filings Week Ending 2023 April 01

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-03-26 Search Period End: 2023-04-01 Earliest Case: 2023-03-27 Latest Case: 2023-03-31 Total Cases: 750 Total Transfers: 15 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 19.3% Of those, percentage pro se: 48.3% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Berlin Least stable with 10+ filings: Bridgewater Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth 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 northeast 169 22.5% eastern 127 16.9% western 112 14.9% central 89 11.9% metro_south 73 9.7% southeast 72 9.6% lawrence district 15 2.0% quincy district 11 1.5% somerville district 9 1.2% lynn district 7 0.9% chelsea district 6 0.8% haverhill district 6 0.8% lowell district 6 0.8% malden district 6 0.8% cambridge district 5 0.7% waltham district 4 0.5% wrentham district 4 0.5% attleboro district 3 0.4% pittsfield district 3 0.4% woburn district 3 0.4% bmc brighton 2 0.3% chicopee district 2 0.3% new bedford district 2 0.3% orleans district 2 0.3% barnstable district 1 0.1% bmc dorchester 1 0.1% bmc west roxbury 1 0.1% brockton district 1 0.1% fall river district 1 0.1% holyoke district 1 0.1% northern berkshire district 1 0.1% peabody district 1 0.1% salem district 1 0.1% stoughton district 1 0.1% taunton district 1 0.1% worcester district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 605 0 Natural Person 145 750 Total 750 750 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 80.7% 0.0% Natural Person 19.3% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 590 15 605 Optional 75 70 145 Total 665 85 750 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 78.7% 2.0% 80.7% Optional 10.0% 9.3% 19.3% Total 88.7% 11.3% 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 0 0 Optional 2 748 750 Total 2 748 750 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Optional 0.3% 99.7% 100.0% Total 0.3% 99.7% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 29 3.9% 1 564 75.2% 2 133 17.7% 3 19 2.5% 4 5 0.7% Total 750 100.0% 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 600 80.0% Cause 84 11.2% No Fault 61 8.1% Foreclosure 5 0.7% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Berlin 104 3 West Chatham 78 1 Dennis Port 63 2 East Sandwich 57 2 Bridgewater 48 13 West Wareham 46 1 Salem 45 19 Roxbury 33 20 Saugus 33 9 Norwood 31 9 Lynn 29 27 Marlborough 28 11 Westwood 27 4 Hyde Park 26 9 Fall River 24 22 Randolph 24 8 Dorchester 23 22 North Dighton 23 1 Woburn 23 9 East Wareham 22 5 Raynham 22 3 Milford 21 6 North Brookfield 21 1 Revere 21 11 Westborough 21 4 Marion 20 1 Whitman 20 3 Chelsea 19 7 Warren 19 1 Worcester 19 35 Yarmouth Port 19 1 East Falmouth 17 1 Foxborough 17 3 Burlington 16 4 Dedham 16 4 Dorchester Center 16 15 Taunton 16 9 Weymouth 16 9 Danvers 15 4 Lexington 15 5 Hanover 14 2 Hyannis 14 2 Northborough 14 2 Quincy 14 13 Swampscott 14 2 Canton 13 3 Peabody 13 7 Somerville 13 10 West Boylston 13 1 Fairhaven 12 2 Fitchburg 12 5 Plainville 12 1 Watertown 12 4 Adams 11 1 Attleborough 11 5 Framingham 11 8 Haverhill 11 7 Lawrence 11 9 Malden 11 7 New Bedford 11 11 Pittsfield 11 5 Southbridge 11 2 Stoughton 11 3 Sudbury 11 2 Webster 11 2 North Attleborough 10 3 Everett 9 4 Gardner 9 2 North Billerica 9 1 South Easton 9 1 Braintree 8 3 Lynnfield 8 1 Medfield 8 1 North Dartmouth 8 2 South Yarmouth 8 1 Bedford 7 1 Beverly 7 3 Brockton 7 7 Kingston 7 1 Medway 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Abington 6 1 Bellingham 6 1 Brighton 6 3 Cambridge 6 7 Northbridge 6 1 Roslindale 6 2 Charlestown 5 1 Chicopee 5 3 Hudson 5 1 Lowell 5 6 Mattapan 5 2 Norton 5 1 Pembroke 5 1 Roxbury Crossing 5 3 Sharon 5 1 Arlington 4 2 Belmont 4 1 Leominster 4 2 Middleborough 4 1 Waltham 4 3 Allston 3 1 Boston 3 19 Franklin 3 1 Medford 3 2 Melrose 3 1 North Andover 3 1 West Roxbury 3 1 Chelmsford 2 1 East Boston 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 South Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 202 Springfield 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 83 36 Essex 80 89 Norfolk 77 66 Bristol 72 60 Worcester 61 68 Suffolk 59 118 Barnstable 51 10 Middlesex 38 90 Berkshire 37 6 Hampden 7 5 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/.