Filings Week Ending 2023 June 24

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-06-18 Search Period End: 2023-06-24 Earliest Case: 2023-06-19 Latest Case: 2023-06-23 Total Cases: 673 Total Transfers: 10 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 21.7% Of those, percentage pro se: 45.9% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Fiskdale Least stable with 10+ filings: Framingham Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Hampden Cases per day: 112 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 eastern 141 21.0% central 106 15.8% northeast 105 15.6% western 93 13.8% metro_south 74 11.0% southeast 66 9.8% framingham district 9 1.3% lynn district 9 1.3% quincy district 9 1.3% fall river district 7 1.0% woburn district 6 0.9% malden district 5 0.7% attleboro district 4 0.6% salem district 4 0.6% waltham district 4 0.6% bmc east boston 3 0.4% bmc dorchester 2 0.3% haverhill district 2 0.3% milford district 2 0.3% new bedford district 2 0.3% somerville district 2 0.3% springfield district 2 0.3% ayer district 1 0.1% brockton district 1 0.1% chelsea district 1 0.1% chicopee district 1 0.1% dedham district 1 0.1% gloucester district 1 0.1% lowell district 1 0.1% newburyport district 1 0.1% northern berkshire district 1 0.1% palmer district 1 0.1% peabody district 1 0.1% pittsfield district 1 0.1% taunton district 1 0.1% uxbridge district 1 0.1% wareham district 1 0.1% wrentham district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 527 1 Natural Person 146 672 Total 673 673 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 78.3% 0.1% Natural Person 21.7% 99.9% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 518 9 527 Optional 79 67 146 Total 597 76 673 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 77.0% 1.3% 78.3% Optional 11.7% 10.0% 21.7% 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 1 1 Optional 3 669 672 Total 3 670 673 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% Optional 0.4% 99.4% 99.9% Total 0.4% 99.6% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 23 3.4% 1 483 71.8% 2 137 20.4% 3 19 2.8% 4 7 1.0% 5 4 0.6% Total 673 100.0% 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 479 71.2% Cause 117 17.4% No Fault 69 10.3% Foreclosure 8 1.2% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Fiskdale 129 4 Indian Orchard 89 9 West Warren 88 1 Millers Falls 77 1 Chestnut Hill 47 1 North Billerica 46 5 Framingham 42 29 South Boston 41 14 Holyoke 37 15 Braintree 36 13 Wellfleet 36 1 Hopedale 33 2 Merrimac 31 2 New Bedford 30 29 North Adams 29 4 North Hatfield 29 1 Salem 29 12 East Sandwich 28 1 Dorchester 27 25 Sagamore Beach 27 1 Cohasset 26 2 Lynn 26 24 Newton Center 25 1 Springfield 25 39 Norwood 24 7 Salisbury 24 2 Turners Falls 24 1 Marlborough 23 9 Southbridge 23 4 Woburn 23 9 Worcester 23 42 Brighton 22 10 East Wareham 22 5 Weymouth 22 12 Winthrop 22 4 Fall River 21 19 Bolton 20 1 Eastham 20 1 Gardner 19 4 Northbridge 19 3 West Roxbury 19 6 Roxbury 18 11 West Yarmouth 18 1 Chelsea 17 6 Feeding Hills 17 2 North Attleborough 17 5 Rowley 17 1 Sharon 17 3 Tyngsborough 17 2 West Springfield 17 5 Ashburnham 16 1 Brockton 15 15 East Taunton 15 1 Fitchburg 14 6 East Weymouth 13 7 Lawrence 13 10 Peabody 13 7 Revere 13 7 Tewksbury 13 4 Burlington 12 3 Rutland 12 1 Williamstown 12 1 Adams 11 1 Blackstone 11 1 Greenfield 11 2 Lowell 11 12 Melrose 11 3 Stoughton 11 3 Townsend 11 1 Webster 11 2 Chicopee 10 6 Dorchester Center 10 10 Attleborough 9 4 East Boston 9 4 Everett 9 4 Holbrook 9 1 Lakeville 9 1 Maynard 9 1 Stoneham 9 2 Winchendon 9 1 Carver 8 1 Haverhill 8 5 Hyde Park 8 3 Jamaica Plain 8 3 Malden 8 5 Medfield 8 1 Palmer 8 1 Spencer 8 1 Waltham 8 5 Bedford 7 1 Centerville 7 1 Charlton 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Medford 7 4 Medway 7 1 Milford 7 2 Millbury 7 1 Milton 7 2 Somerville 7 6 Taunton 7 4 Andover 6 2 Belchertown 6 1 Dracut 6 2 Easthampton 6 1 Franklin 6 2 Pittsfield 6 3 Brookline 5 3 Chelmsford 5 2 Foxborough 5 1 Hudson 5 1 Mattapan 5 2 Norton 5 1 Quincy 5 5 Rockland 5 1 South Dartmouth 5 2 South Hadley 5 1 South Weymouth 5 3 Arlington 4 2 Belmont 4 1 Cambridge 4 5 Canton 4 1 Dedham 4 1 Reading 4 1 Wakefield 4 1 Westfield 4 2 Westford 4 1 Agawam 3 1 Boston 3 20 Bridgewater 3 1 Danvers 3 1 Gloucester 3 1 Randolph 3 1 Saugus 3 1 Wellesley Hills 3 1 Beverly 2 1 Billerica 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 E. Weymouth 1 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 (not given) 0 11 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 Hampden 112 80 Norfolk 84 72 Bristol 79 65 Worcester 70 79 Suffolk 63 125 Essex 62 69 Plymouth 57 25 Berkshire 55 9 Middlesex 53 124 Franklin 37 4 Barnstable 31 6 Hampshire 21 4 Dukes 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/.