Filings Week Ending 2023 May 13

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-05-07 Search Period End: 2023-05-13 Earliest Case: 2023-05-08 Latest Case: 2023-05-12 Total Cases: 821 Total Transfers: 17 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 26.8% Of those, percentage pro se: 55.0% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: West Stockbridge Least stable with 10+ filings: Stoughton Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 136 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 164 20.0% central 121 14.7% northeast 120 14.6% southeast 109 13.3% western 96 11.7% metro_south 71 8.6% malden district 20 2.4% brockton district 12 1.5% lowell district 12 1.5% haverhill district 11 1.3% quincy district 9 1.1% new bedford district 7 0.9% lynn district 6 0.7% attleboro district 5 0.6% barnstable district 4 0.5% cambridge district 4 0.5% salem district 4 0.5% waltham district 4 0.5% bmc brighton 3 0.4% fall river district 3 0.4% springfield district 3 0.4% chelsea district 2 0.2% chicopee district 2 0.2% gloucester district 2 0.2% holyoke district 2 0.2% nantucket district 2 0.2% pittsfield district 2 0.2% woburn district 2 0.2% wrentham district 2 0.2% ayer district 1 0.1% bmc charlestown 1 0.1% bmc dorchester 1 0.1% bmc south boston 1 0.1% concord district 1 0.1% dedham district 1 0.1% eastern hampshire district 1 0.1% framingham district 1 0.1% lawrence district 1 0.1% newburyport district 1 0.1% newton district 1 0.1% northern berkshire district 1 0.1% palmer district 1 0.1% plymouth district 1 0.1% somerville district 1 0.1% stoughton district 1 0.1% wareham district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 601 3 Natural Person 220 818 Total 821 821 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 73.2% 0.4% Natural Person 26.8% 99.6% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 592 9 601 Optional 99 121 220 Total 691 130 821 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 72.1% 1.1% 73.2% Optional 12.1% 14.7% 26.8% Total 84.2% 15.8% 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 3 3 Optional 7 811 818 Total 7 814 821 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.4% 0.4% Optional 0.9% 98.8% 99.6% Total 0.9% 99.1% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 52 6.3% 1 619 75.4% 2 116 14.1% 3 22 2.7% 4 7 0.9% 5 4 0.5% 7 1 0.1% Total 821 100.0% 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 507 61.8% Cause 175 21.3% No Fault 128 15.6% Foreclosure 11 1.3% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count West Stockbridge 76 1 Chester 74 1 Berlin 69 2 Hyannis 63 9 South Dennis 54 2 Stoughton 48 13 West Wareham 46 1 Avon 45 2 New Bedford 38 37 Canton 37 8 Webster 35 6 Fall River 34 31 Hardwick 33 1 Fiskdale 32 1 Dennis Port 31 1 Osterville 28 1 Whitinsville 28 2 Fitchburg 27 11 Westborough 27 5 Worcester 27 49 Athol 25 3 Brockton 25 24 Orange 25 2 Everett 23 10 Forestdale 22 1 Raynham 22 3 South Grafton 22 1 North Brookfield 21 1 Oxford 21 3 Brewster 20 2 Holyoke 20 8 Nantucket 19 2 Winchendon 19 2 Bellingham 18 3 Cherry Valley 18 2 Haverhill 18 11 Quincy 18 17 Randolph 18 6 West Yarmouth 18 1 Feeding Hills 17 2 Middleborough 17 4 Southbridge 17 3 Ashburnham 16 1 Hopedale 16 1 Mattapoisett 16 1 Shrewsbury 16 6 Berkley 15 1 Dorchester 15 14 North Adams 14 2 Taunton 14 8 West Bridgewater 14 1 East Wareham 13 3 Framingham 13 9 Malden 13 8 Mattapan 13 5 Upton 13 1 Andover 12 4 Dedham 12 3 South Attleboro 12 1 Attleborough 11 5 Bridgewater 11 3 Greenfield 11 2 South Hadley 11 2 Norwood 10 3 Plymouth 10 6 Chicopee 9 5 Hingham 9 2 Indian Orchard 9 1 Lakeville 9 1 Maynard 9 1 Weymouth 9 5 Carver 8 1 Dudley 8 1 Lowell 8 9 Pepperell 8 1 Spencer 8 1 Tyngsborough 8 1 Clinton 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Leominster 7 3 Revere 7 4 Saugus 7 2 Springfield 7 12 Uxbridge 7 1 West Springfield 7 2 Abington 6 1 Ashland 6 1 Dorchester Center 6 6 East Longmeadow 6 1 Franklin 6 2 Gloucester 6 2 Hopkinton 6 1 Lynn 6 6 North Attleborough 6 2 Pittsfield 6 3 Waltham 6 4 Westwood 6 1 Beverly 5 2 Foxborough 5 1 Lawrence 5 4 Marblehead 5 1 Newburyport 5 1 Rockland 5 1 Sharon 5 1 Woburn 5 2 Cambridge 4 5 East Boston 4 2 Gardner 4 1 Ludlow 4 1 North Dartmouth 4 1 Salem 4 2 Wakefield 4 1 Agawam 3 1 Danvers 3 1 Dracut 3 1 East Weymouth 3 2 Melrose 3 1 Natick 3 1 Somerville 3 3 Amherst 2 1 Arlington 2 1 Billerica 2 1 Braintree 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 Marlborough 2 1 Methuen 2 1 South Boston 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Boston 1 7 Brookline 1 1 Medford 1 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 (not given) 0 294 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 Plymouth 115 50 Bristol 108 89 Worcester 97 109 Barnstable 88 17 Norfolk 80 69 Nantucket 56 2 Hampden 49 35 Berkshire 37 6 Franklin 37 4 Essex 33 37 Middlesex 27 64 Suffolk 20 41 Hampshire 16 3 Dukes 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/.