Filings Week Ending 2023 May 20

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-05-14 Search Period End: 2023-05-20 Earliest Case: 2023-05-15 Latest Case: 2023-05-19 Total Cases: 778 Total Transfers: 15 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 28.8% Of those, percentage pro se: 46.0% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Florence Least stable with 10+ filings: Randolph Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 129 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 173 22.2% eastern 135 17.4% western 111 14.3% southeast 108 13.9% central 87 11.2% metro_south 51 6.6% quincy district 11 1.4% somerville district 10 1.3% barnstable district 9 1.2% chelsea district 9 1.2% brockton district 8 1.0% cambridge district 7 0.9% malden district 7 0.9% brookline district 5 0.6% attleboro district 4 0.5% fall river district 4 0.5% lynn district 4 0.5% milford district 4 0.5% lawrence district 3 0.4% waltham district 3 0.4% lowell district 2 0.3% nantucket district 2 0.3% newton district 2 0.3% northern berkshire district 2 0.3% bmc dorchester 1 0.1% chicopee district 1 0.1% concord district 1 0.1% fallmouth district 1 0.1% haverhill district 1 0.1% new bedford district 1 0.1% newburyport district 1 0.1% northampton district 1 0.1% orleans district 1 0.1% peabody district 1 0.1% pittsfield district 1 0.1% salem district 1 0.1% springfield district 1 0.1% stoughton district 1 0.1% uxbridge district 1 0.1% westfield district 1 0.1% wrentham district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 554 1 Natural Person 224 777 Total 778 778 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 71.2% 0.1% Natural Person 28.8% 99.9% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 539 15 554 Optional 121 103 224 Total 660 118 778 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 69.3% 1.9% 71.2% Optional 15.6% 13.2% 28.8% Total 84.8% 15.2% 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 10 767 777 Total 10 768 778 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% Optional 1.3% 98.6% 99.9% Total 1.3% 98.7% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 50 6.4% 1 565 72.6% 2 127 16.3% 3 25 3.2% 4 7 0.9% 5 2 0.3% 6 1 0.1% 7 1 0.1% Total 778 100.0% 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 473 60.8% No Fault 151 19.4% Cause 145 18.6% Foreclosure 9 1.2% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Florence 105 1 Granville 63 1 Buzzards Bay 58 2 Harwich Port 57 1 West Yarmouth 56 3 Randolph 46 15 Hyannis 42 6 Rochdale (Leicester) 37 1 Wellfleet 36 1 West Barnstable 35 1 Berlin 34 1 East Falmouth 34 2 New Bedford 31 30 Gardner 29 6 South Easton 29 3 East Sandwich 28 1 Fall River 28 25 Osterville 28 1 Attleborough 27 12 Holyoke 27 11 Sagamore 27 1 Halifax 26 2 Stoughton 25 7 South Grafton 22 1 Brewster 20 2 Ware 20 2 Brockton 19 18 Fitchburg 19 8 Hadley 19 1 Lunenburg 19 2 Nantucket 19 2 Abington 18 3 Worcester 18 34 Milford 17 5 North Attleborough 17 5 Rowley 17 1 Southbridge 17 3 Spencer 17 2 Webster 17 3 Orleans 16 1 Kingston 15 2 Clinton 14 2 Leominster 14 6 Medford 14 8 North Adams 14 2 Salem 14 6 Hopkinton 13 2 Quincy 13 12 Springfield 13 20 Auburn 12 2 Fairhaven 12 2 Marlborough 12 5 South Attleboro 12 1 Adams 11 1 Chelsea 11 4 Everett 11 5 Foxborough 11 2 Lynn 11 10 Revere 11 6 Norwood 10 3 Southwick 10 1 Westborough 10 2 Hingham 9 2 Hull 9 1 Maynard 9 1 Norwell 9 1 Wrentham 9 1 Athol 8 1 Harwich 8 1 Lynnfield 8 1 Mansfield 8 2 South Yarmouth 8 1 Taunton 8 5 Centerville 7 1 East Bridgewater 7 1 Ipswich 7 1 Lawrence 7 6 North Easton 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Plymouth 7 4 Raynham 7 1 Seekonk 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Ashland 6 1 Bellingham 6 1 Brookline 6 4 Easthampton 6 1 Northbridge 6 1 Chicopee 5 3 Peabody 5 3 Sharon 5 1 Belmont 4 1 Canton 4 1 Pittsfield 4 2 Sandwich 4 1 Wakefield 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Gloucester 3 1 Haverhill 3 2 Needham 3 1 Saugus 3 1 Somerville 3 3 South Weymouth 3 2 Tewksbury 3 1 Waltham 3 2 West Springfield 3 1 Weymouth 3 2 Braintree 2 1 Cambridge 2 3 Methuen 2 1 Newton 2 2 Shrewsbury 2 1 South Dartmouth 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 Framingham 1 1 Malden 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 (not given) 0 357 Boston 0 1 Lowell 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 Barnstable 134 26 Bristol 108 89 Plymouth 83 36 Worcester 74 83 Norfolk 62 53 Nantucket 56 2 Hampden 53 38 Berkshire 30 5 Essex 30 33 Hampshire 27 5 Middlesex 16 38 Suffolk 6 13 Dukes 0 0 Franklin 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/.