Filings Week Ending 2023 April 15

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-04-09 Search Period End: 2023-04-15 Earliest Case: 2023-04-10 Latest Case: 2023-04-14 Total Cases: 960 Total Transfers: 19 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 25.4% Of those, percentage pro se: 46.7% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Framingham Least stable with 10+ filings: Framingham Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Bristol Cases per day: 160 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 northeast 221 23.0% eastern 187 19.5% central 158 16.5% western 109 11.4% southeast 101 10.5% metro_south 48 5.0% lawrence district 12 1.2% somerville district 9 0.9% brockton district 8 0.8% framingham district 8 0.8% quincy district 8 0.8% haverhill district 7 0.7% lynn district 7 0.7% bmc west roxbury 6 0.6% northern berkshire district 6 0.6% pittsfield district 6 0.6% bmc central 5 0.5% springfield district 5 0.5% barnstable district 4 0.4% lowell district 4 0.4% malden district 4 0.4% cambridge district 3 0.3% waltham district 3 0.3% wareham district 3 0.3% woburn district 3 0.3% attleboro district 2 0.2% bmc brighton 2 0.2% bmc east boston 2 0.2% chelsea district 2 0.2% gloucester district 2 0.2% natick district 2 0.2% uxbridge district 2 0.2% ayer district 1 0.1% bmc roxbury 1 0.1% chicopee district 1 0.1% concord district 1 0.1% fall river district 1 0.1% milford district 1 0.1% newburyport district 1 0.1% peabody district 1 0.1% salem district 1 0.1% worcester district 1 0.1% wrentham district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 716 5 Natural Person 244 955 Total 960 960 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 74.6% 0.5% Natural Person 25.4% 99.5% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 698 18 716 Optional 130 114 244 Total 828 132 960 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 72.7% 1.9% 74.6% Optional 13.5% 11.9% 25.4% Total 86.2% 13.8% 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 5 5 Optional 5 950 955 Total 5 955 960 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.5% 0.5% Optional 0.5% 99.0% 99.5% Total 0.5% 99.5% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 34 3.5% 1 722 75.2% 2 158 16.5% 3 30 3.1% 4 11 1.1% 5 2 0.2% 6 2 0.2% 8 1 0.1% Total 960 100.0% 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 641 66.8% No Fault 160 16.7% Cause 153 15.9% Foreclosure 6 0.6% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Framingham 79 54 West Chatham 78 1 Adams 70 6 Phillipston 59 1 New Bedford 51 49 East Brookfield 45 1 Barre 37 2 Hyannis 35 5 Brookfield 29 1 Rockport 28 2 West Brookfield 27 1 Worcester 26 48 Athol 25 3 Fitchburg 24 10 Plainville 24 2 Avon 22 1 Brockton 22 21 Raynham 22 3 Westborough 21 4 East Boston 19 8 Leominster 19 8 Warren 19 1 Winchendon 19 2 Fairhaven 18 3 Chelsea 17 6 Roslindale 17 5 South Yarmouth 17 2 Southbridge 17 3 Spencer 17 2 Lynn 16 15 Medford 16 9 Beverly 15 6 Revere 15 8 Gardner 14 3 Hyde Park 14 5 Milford 14 4 Salem 14 6 Swampscott 14 2 West Bridgewater 14 1 Whitinsville 14 1 Ayer 13 1 Dorchester Center 13 12 Norwood 13 4 Pittsfield 13 6 West Boylston 13 1 Millis 12 1 Taunton 12 7 Blackstone 11 1 Haverhill 11 7 Quincy 11 11 Stoughton 11 3 Weymouth 11 6 Auburndale 10 1 Fall River 10 9 Marlborough 10 4 Acushnet 9 1 Attleborough 9 4 Cherry Valley 9 1 Hingham 9 2 Hull 9 1 Lakeville 9 1 Leicester 9 1 Maynard 9 1 South Easton 9 1 Belmont 8 2 Carver 8 1 Palmer 8 1 Tyngsborough 8 1 Wakefield 8 2 Walpole 8 2 Centerville 7 1 Charlton 7 1 Chicopee 7 4 Clinton 7 1 Dennis 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Mashpee 7 1 North Easton 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Wayland 7 1 Wilbraham 7 1 Woburn 7 3 Amesbury 6 1 Ashland 6 1 Bellingham 6 1 Dorchester 6 6 East Longmeadow 6 1 Hopkinton 6 1 Natick 6 2 Northbridge 6 1 Springfield 6 10 Swansea 6 1 Whitman 6 1 Braintree 5 2 Cambridge 5 6 Foxborough 5 1 Holden 5 1 Norton 5 1 Plymouth 5 3 Rockland 5 1 Somerset 5 1 Somerville 5 4 South Weymouth 5 3 Webster 5 1 Winthrop 5 1 Acton 4 1 Dedham 4 1 Middleborough 4 1 Onset 4 1 Reading 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Allston 3 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Danvers 3 1 Falmouth 3 1 Gloucester 3 1 Marshfield 3 1 Needham Heights 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Randolph 3 1 Saugus 3 1 Waltham 3 2 Watertown 3 1 Brighton 2 1 Chelmsford 2 1 E. Boston 2 1 Everett 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 South Dartmouth 2 1 Boston 1 10 Brookline 1 1 East Weymouth 1 1 Lawrence 1 1 Lowell 1 2 Malden 1 1 North Quincy 1 1 Peabody 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 (not given) 0 435 span 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 Bristol 100 83 Worcester 95 106 Plymouth 88 38 Berkshire 74 12 Barnstable 62 12 Norfolk 50 43 Middlesex 44 103 Essex 40 44 Suffolk 33 66 Hampden 23 17 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/.