Filings Month Ending 2021 February 28

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-02-01 Search Period End: 2021-02-28 Earliest Case: 2021-02-01 Latest Case: 2021-02-26 Total Cases: 1958 Total Transfers: 64 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 26.3% Of those, percentage pro se: 54.4% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Chestnut Hill Least stable with 10+ filings: Allston Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 72 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 378 19.3% central 351 17.9% western 339 17.3% eastern 242 12.4% southeast 233 11.9% metro_south 194 9.9% pittsfield district 24 1.2% somerville district 21 1.1% quincy district 17 0.9% chelsea district 15 0.8% malden district 14 0.7% cambridge district 11 0.6% fall river district 11 0.6% lynn district 10 0.5% bmc west roxbury 9 0.5% peabody district 8 0.4% barnstable district 7 0.4% new bedford district 7 0.4% framingham district 6 0.3% northern berkshire district 6 0.3% salem district 5 0.3% bmc east boston 4 0.2% palmer district 4 0.2% southern berkshire district 4 0.2% brockton district 3 0.2% dedham district 3 0.2% fallmouth district 3 0.2% haverhill district 3 0.2% hingham district 3 0.2% holyoke district 3 0.2% waltham district 3 0.2% ayer district 2 0.1% lawrence district 2 0.1% springfield district 2 0.1% bmc roxbury 1 0.1% chicopee district 1 0.1% eastern hampshire district 1 0.1% gloucester district 1 0.1% leominster district 1 0.1% nantucket district 1 0.1% plymouth district 1 0.1% stoughton district 1 0.1% taunton district 1 0.1% woburn district 1 0.1% wrentham district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 1443 7 Natural Person 515 1951 Total 1958 1958 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 73.7% 0.4% Natural Person 26.3% 99.6% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 1384 59 1443 Optional 235 280 515 Total 1619 339 1958 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 70.7% 3.0% 73.7% Optional 12.0% 14.3% 26.3% Total 82.7% 17.3% 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 3 4 7 Optional 43 1908 1951 Total 46 1912 1958 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.2% 0.2% 0.4% Optional 2.2% 97.4% 99.6% Total 2.3% 97.7% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 159 8.1% 1 1378 70.4% 2 347 17.7% 3 54 2.8% 4 10 0.5% 5 7 0.4% 6 3 0.2% Total 1958 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 1389 70.9% Cause 245 12.5% No Fault 207 10.6% Unknown/Other 87 4.4% Foreclosure 30 1.5% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Chestnut Hill 188 4 North Falmouth 111 3 East Falmouth 103 6 Allston 89 26 New Bedford 85 81 Marlborough 83 32 Randolph 74 24 Framingham 71 49 Fitchburg 64 26 Fall River 63 56 Brighton 56 25 Great Barrington 56 4 Hyannis 56 8 Pittsfield 53 24 Baldwinville 52 1 Chelsea 51 18 Gardner 49 10 Medfield 49 6 Marshfield 47 12 Brockton 46 44 Revere 46 24 Avon 45 2 Rockland 45 8 Worcester 45 82 Athol 43 5 North Adams 43 6 West Yarmouth 37 2 Wrentham 36 4 Milford 35 10 Pocasset 34 1 Roslindale 34 10 Sudbury 33 6 Lanesborough 32 1 Taunton 32 18 Dennis Port 31 1 Millville 31 1 Middleborough 30 7 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Somerville 29 22 Southbridge 29 5 Northborough 28 4 Sagamore Beach 27 1 Quincy 26 24 Leominster 24 10 Norwood 24 7 Plainville 24 2 Dorchester 23 22 Foxborough 23 4 Boylston 22 1 East Boston 22 9 Millbury 22 3 Raynham 22 3 Scituate 22 4 Stoughton 22 6 East Bridgewater 21 3 Oxford 21 3 Braintree 19 7 Hull 19 2 Manchester 19 1 Nantucket 19 2 Westport 19 3 Abington 18 3 Auburn 18 3 Cambridge 18 19 Dorchester Center 18 17 East Wareham 18 4 Jamaica Plain 18 7 Lakeville 18 2 Carver 17 2 Mendon 17 1 Ashburnham 16 1 Everett 16 7 Granby 16 1 Mattapoisett 16 1 Westborough 16 3 Bridgewater 15 4 Franklin 15 5 Groveland 15 1 Medway 15 2 Plymouth 15 9 Centerville 14 2 Hyde Park 14 5 Mashpee 14 2 Cohasset 13 1 Needham 13 4 Wareham 13 3 Whitman 13 2 Ashland 12 2 Medford 12 7 Salem 12 5 Attleborough 11 5 Blackstone 11 1 Lynn 11 10 Middleton 11 1 Pembroke 11 2 Shrewsbury 11 4 Winthrop 11 2 North Andover 10 3 North Attleborough 10 3 Canton 9 2 Holbrook 9 1 Lunenburg 9 1 South Easton 9 1 Stoneham 9 2 Dedham 8 2 Mansfield 8 2 North Dartmouth 8 2 Pepperell 8 1 Rehoboth 8 1 South Yarmouth 8 1 Wakefield 8 2 Arlington 7 3 Charlton 7 1 Dennis 7 1 E. Boston 7 3 Hanover 7 1 Ipswich 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Lawrence 7 6 Milton 7 2 North Easton 7 1 Wayland 7 1 Weymouth 7 4 Bellingham 6 1 Hopkinton 6 1 Malden 6 4 Natick 6 2 West Roxbury 6 2 Westwood 6 1 Charlestown 5 1 Chicopee 5 3 Grafton 5 1 Holden 5 1 Mattapan 5 2 Webster 5 1 Belmont 4 1 Boston 4 25 Hingham 4 1 Sandwich 4 1 Springfield 4 7 Waltham 4 3 Westford 4 1 Brookline 3 2 Gloucester 3 1 Melrose 3 1 Roxbury 3 2 Watertown 3 1 Holyoke 2 1 Methuen 2 1 South Boston 2 1 Westfield 2 1 East Weymouth 1 1 Haverhill 1 1 Newton 1 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 North Weymouth 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 South Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 881 Lowell 0 1 span 0 3 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 266 115 Berkshire 216 35 Bristol 213 176 Worcester 160 179 Barnstable 155 30 Norfolk 141 121 Suffolk 102 202 Middlesex 72 170 Nantucket 56 2 Essex 28 31 Hampden 16 12 Hampshire 5 1 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. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.