Filings Month Ending 2020 November 30

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2020-11-01 Search Period End: 2020-11-30 Earliest Case: 2020-11-02 Latest Case: 2020-11-30 Total Cases: 2380 Total Transfers: 18 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 39.0% Of those, percentage pro se: 61.9% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Rowe Least stable with 10+ filings: Fall River Least stable with 100+ filings: Fall River Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 82 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 central 457 19.2% northeast 402 16.9% southeast 302 12.7% metro_south 291 12.2% western 291 12.2% eastern 285 12.0% fall river district 38 1.6% malden district 29 1.2% barnstable district 26 1.1% pittsfield district 24 1.0% cambridge district 21 0.9% lowell district 18 0.8% lynn district 17 0.7% quincy district 16 0.7% haverhill district 15 0.6% northern berkshire district 14 0.6% fallmouth district 11 0.5% waltham district 10 0.4% bmc east boston 9 0.4% chelsea district 9 0.4% orleans district 8 0.3% dedham district 7 0.3% bmc brighton 6 0.3% palmer district 6 0.3% woburn district 6 0.3% ayer district 5 0.2% framingham district 5 0.2% somerville district 5 0.2% new bedford district 4 0.2% salem district 4 0.2% attleboro district 3 0.1% chicopee district 3 0.1% northampton district 3 0.1% concord district 2 0.1% eastern hampshire district 2 0.1% lawrence district 2 0.1% nantucket district 2 0.1% newburyport district 2 0.1% southern berkshire district 2 0.1% stoughton district 2 0.1% wrentham district 2 0.1% bmc roxbury 1 0.0% brockton district 1 0.0% edgartown district 1 0.0% gloucester district 1 0.0% hingham district 1 0.0% holyoke district 1 0.0% milford district 1 0.0% natick district 1 0.0% newton district 1 0.0% orange district 1 0.0% peabody district 1 0.0% plymouth district 1 0.0% springfield district 1 0.0% westborough district 1 0.0% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 1451 41 Natural Person 929 2339 Total 2380 2380 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 61.0% 1.7% Natural Person 39.0% 98.3% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 1379 72 1451 Optional 354 575 929 Total 1733 647 2380 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 57.9% 3.0% 61.0% Optional 14.9% 24.2% 39.0% Total 72.8% 27.2% 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 3 38 41 Optional 45 2294 2339 Total 48 2332 2380 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.1% 1.6% 1.7% Optional 1.9% 96.4% 98.3% Total 2.0% 98.0% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 162 6.8% 1 1587 66.7% 2 524 22.0% 3 80 3.4% 4 18 0.8% 5 7 0.3% 6 2 0.1% Total 2380 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 1751 73.6% Unknown/Other 352 14.8% Cause 197 8.3% No Fault 56 2.4% Foreclosure 24 1.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Rowe 254 1 Fall River 155 138 Dennis Port 126 4 Fitchburg 114 46 Westborough 114 21 Worcester 108 196 East Falmouth 103 6 Norwood 94 27 West Yarmouth 94 5 Hyannis 92 13 Buzzards Bay 87 3 East Sandwich 86 3 Lawrence 86 66 Lowell 84 90 North Adams 80 11 New Bedford 79 76 Mashpee 78 11 West Chatham 78 1 Southbridge 77 13 Webster 77 13 Whitman 75 11 Brockton 71 67 Framingham 70 48 Pittsfield 67 30 Provincetown 67 2 Haverhill 65 40 Lunenburg 59 6 Ashfield 57 1 Harwich Port 57 1 Jefferson 57 2 Lynn 57 52 Marlborough 57 22 Shelburne Falls 56 1 Shutesbury 56 1 Townsend 56 5 Shirley 55 4 Baldwinville 52 1 South Yarmouth 51 6 Ware 50 5 Edgartown 49 2 Gardner 49 10 West Springfield 49 14 Adams 47 4 Hyde Park 47 16 Middleborough 47 11 Revere 46 24 West Wareham 46 1 Salem 45 19 Abington 43 7 Attleborough 43 19 Chelsea 42 15 Belchertown 40 6 Everett 40 17 Newburyport 40 7 Rockland 40 7 Weymouth 40 22 Williamsburg 40 1 Braintree 39 14 Leominster 39 16 Yarmouth Port 39 2 Hull 38 4 Mattapan 38 14 Sandwich 38 8 Canton 37 8 Malden 37 22 Springfield 36 56 Allston 34 10 Athol 34 4 South Hadley 34 6 Three Rivers 34 1 Winthrop 34 6 Hopkinton 33 5 Stoughton 33 9 Walpole 33 8 Ashby 32 1 Milford 32 9 Dunstable 31 1 Easthampton 31 5 Amesbury 30 5 Chicopee 30 17 Dorchester Center 30 28 Brookfield 29 1 Indian Orchard 29 3 Methuen 29 14 Nahant 29 1 Princeton 29 1 Great Barrington 28 2 Greenfield 28 5 Wakefield 28 7 South Dennis 27 1 West Brookfield 27 1 Westwood 27 4 Cambridge 26 28 Cohasset 26 2 Dudley 26 3 Taunton 26 15 Upton 26 2 Newton Center 25 1 North Grafton 25 2 North Attleborough 24 7 Tewksbury 24 7 Turners Falls 24 1 North Dighton 23 1 Blackstone 22 2 Boylston 22 1 Centerville 22 3 Forestdale 22 1 South Grafton 22 1 Uxbridge 22 3 Hanover 21 3 Northborough 21 3 Roxbury 21 13 Sturbridge 21 2 Boxborough 20 1 Marstons Mills 20 1 Hadley 19 1 Nantucket 19 2 Quincy 19 18 North Billerica 18 2 East Boston 17 7 Needham 17 5 Rehoboth 17 2 Spencer 17 2 Ashburnham 16 1 Dracut 16 5 Harwich 16 2 Hopedale 16 1 Mattapoisett 16 1 Medfield 16 2 Brighton 15 7 Charlton 15 2 Danvers 15 4 Holyoke 15 6 Marblehead 15 3 Merrimac 15 1 Millbury 15 2 Saugus 15 4 Stow 15 1 Dalton 14 1 Raynham 14 2 South Weymouth 14 8 Westfield 14 6 Whitinsville 14 1 Ayer 13 1 Peabody 13 7 Somerville 13 10 Waltham 13 8 West Boylston 13 1 Westford 13 3 Woburn 13 5 Ashland 12 2 Auburn 12 2 Bellingham 12 2 Beverly 12 5 Burlington 12 3 Fairhaven 12 2 Lancaster 12 1 Orange 12 1 Plainville 12 1 Rutland 12 1 Salisbury 12 1 Templeton 12 1 Westport 12 2 Williamstown 12 1 Assonet 11 1 Dorchester 11 11 Douglas 11 1 Foxborough 11 2 Melrose 11 3 Middleton 11 1 Montague 11 1 Pembroke 11 2 Auburndale 10 1 Gloucester 10 3 Medford 10 6 North Andover 10 3 North Chelmsford 10 1 Acton 9 2 Acushnet 9 1 Andover 9 3 Arlington 9 4 Hanson 9 1 Holbrook 9 1 Randolph 9 3 South Easton 9 1 Stoneham 9 2 West Roxbury 9 3 Winchendon 9 1 Carver 8 1 Dedham 8 2 Jamaica Plain 8 3 Lynnfield 8 1 Reading 8 2 Shrewsbury 8 3 Tyngsborough 8 1 Agawam 7 2 Bradford 7 1 Bridgewater 7 2 Ipswich 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Marshfield 7 2 North Easton 7 1 North Uxbridge 7 1 Northampton 7 2 Oxford 7 1 Plymouth 7 4 Swampscott 7 1 Wayland 7 1 Falmouth 6 2 Longmeadow 6 1 Swansea 6 1 Amherst 5 2 Boston 5 35 Charlestown 5 1 Grafton 5 1 Norton 5 1 Sharon 5 1 Somerset 5 1 Belmont 4 1 E. Boston 4 2 Easton 4 1 Mansfield 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Brookline 3 2 Franklin 3 1 Lexington 3 1 Milton 3 1 Natick 3 1 Roslindale 3 1 Roxbury Crossing 3 2 Watertown 3 1 Wellesley Hills 3 1 Barnstable 2 1 Billerica 2 1 Chelmsford 2 1 Newton 2 2 South Boston 2 1 East Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 404 span 0 2 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 393 76 Worcester 343 382 Bristol 331 273 Berkshire 303 49 Plymouth 291 126 Essex 221 243 Norfolk 171 146 Hampshire 152 28 Hampden 149 106 Middlesex 141 330 Franklin 113 12 Suffolk 100 199 Nantucket 56 2 Dukes 48 2 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. 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. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.