Filings Month Ending 2021 July 31

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-07-01 Search Period End: 2021-07-31 Earliest Case: 2021-07-01 Latest Case: 2021-07-31 Total Cases: 1748 Total Transfers: 48 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 38.7% Of those, percentage pro se: 49.6% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Wendell Depot Least stable with 10+ filings: Adams Least stable with 100+ filings: Worcester Least stable county: Berkshire Cases per day: 58 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 305 17.4% western 284 16.2% northeast 268 15.3% southeast 260 14.9% eastern 207 11.8% metro_south 173 9.9% quincy district 24 1.4% pittsfield district 21 1.2% chelsea district 15 0.9% lynn district 14 0.8% malden district 11 0.6% northern berkshire district 10 0.6% taunton district 10 0.6% attleboro district 9 0.5% lowell district 9 0.5% waltham district 9 0.5% ayer district 7 0.4% barnstable district 7 0.4% bmc west roxbury 7 0.4% cambridge district 7 0.4% fall river district 7 0.4% brockton district 6 0.3% lawrence district 6 0.3% somerville district 6 0.3% springfield district 5 0.3% haverhill district 4 0.2% wareham district 4 0.2% woburn district 4 0.2% bmc east boston 3 0.2% dedham district 3 0.2% eastern hampshire district 3 0.2% nantucket district 3 0.2% palmer district 3 0.2% peabody district 3 0.2% westfield district 3 0.2% bmc brighton 2 0.1% brookline district 2 0.1% fallmouth district 2 0.1% framingham district 2 0.1% hingham district 2 0.1% milford district 2 0.1% newton district 2 0.1% worcester district 2 0.1% bmc central 1 0.1% bmc roxbury 1 0.1% clinton district 1 0.1% edgartown district 1 0.1% gloucester district 1 0.1% ipswich district 1 0.1% new bedford district 1 0.1% orange district 1 0.1% orleans district 1 0.1% plymouth district 1 0.1% salem district 1 0.1% stoughton district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 1072 5 Natural Person 676 1743 Total 1748 1748 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 61.3% 0.3% Natural Person 38.7% 99.7% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 1042 30 1072 Optional 341 335 676 Total 1383 365 1748 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 59.6% 1.7% 61.3% Optional 19.5% 19.2% 38.7% Total 79.1% 20.9% 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 5 5 Optional 29 1714 1743 Total 29 1719 1748 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.3% 0.3% Optional 1.7% 98.1% 99.7% Total 1.7% 98.3% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 148 8.5% 1 1180 67.5% 2 317 18.1% 3 63 3.6% 4 31 1.8% 5 8 0.5% 7 1 0.1% Total 1748 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 1030 58.9% Cause 357 20.4% No Fault 351 20.1% Foreclosure 10 0.6% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Wendell Depot 1111 1 West Hyannisport 555 1 Gilbertville 173 2 Baldwinville 158 3 Adams 129 11 East Sandwich 115 4 Fall River 108 96 East Falmouth 103 6 Goshen 94 1 North Adams 80 11 Southbridge 65 11 Worcester 65 118 Orange 63 5 Revere 63 33 East Taunton 62 4 Clarksburg 58 1 Clinton 58 8 Abington 56 9 Randolph 56 18 Norwood 55 16 Pittsfield 55 25 Fitchburg 54 22 Framingham 52 36 Vineyard Haven 52 1 Brockton 51 48 South Yarmouth 51 6 Saugus 48 13 Turners Falls 48 2 West Dennis 45 1 Gardner 44 9 North Oxford 44 1 Roslindale 44 13 Stoughton 44 12 Taunton 44 25 New Bedford 43 41 Chelsea 42 15 Lowell 42 45 Lawrence 41 32 Marlborough 41 16 Marstons Mills 41 2 Quincy 41 38 Everett 40 17 Springfield 40 62 Nantucket 39 4 Warren 38 2 Winchendon 38 4 Holyoke 37 15 Tewksbury 37 11 Haverhill 36 22 Wareham 36 8 Milford 35 10 Monument Beach 35 1 Northborough 35 5 West Barnstable 35 1 Athol 34 4 Mattapoisett 33 2 Provincetown 33 1 Townsend 33 3 Chatham 32 2 Dorchester 32 30 Lanesborough 32 1 Berkley 31 2 Dennis Port 31 1 North Andover 31 9 Bedford 30 4 Ipswich 30 4 Sheffield 30 1 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Centerville 29 4 Swampscott 29 4 Mashpee 28 4 Rockland 28 5 Winthrop 28 5 East Wareham 27 6 Sagamore 27 1 Sunderland 27 1 Westminster 27 2 Ayer 26 2 Bridgewater 26 7 Leominster 26 11 Lynn 26 24 Malden 26 16 Fairhaven 25 4 Newton Center 25 1 North Grafton 25 2 Spencer 25 3 Auburn 24 4 Edgartown 24 1 North Attleborough 24 7 Palmer 24 3 Webster 23 4 Avon 22 1 Blackstone 22 2 South Grafton 22 1 North Brookfield 21 1 Salem 21 9 Dedham 20 5 East Freetown 20 1 Eastham 20 1 Ware 20 2 Westwood 20 3 Braintree 19 7 Chicopee 19 11 East Boston 19 8 Indian Orchard 19 2 Lunenburg 19 2 Maynard 19 2 Waltham 19 12 Acton 18 4 Amesbury 18 3 Barre 18 1 Bellingham 18 3 Holbrook 18 2 Roxbury 18 11 Swansea 18 3 Woburn 18 7 Chelmsford 17 6 Feeding Hills 17 2 Foxborough 17 3 Hyde Park 17 6 Middleborough 17 4 Peabody 17 9 Pepperell 17 2 Tyngsborough 17 2 West Springfield 17 5 Harwich 16 2 Hopedale 16 1 Jamaica Plain 16 6 Methuen 16 8 West Roxbury 16 5 Andover 15 5 Dorchester Center 15 14 Kingston 15 2 Millbury 15 2 Natick 15 5 North Easton 15 2 Somerville 15 12 Cambridge 14 15 Dalton 14 1 Dighton 14 1 Holliston 14 2 Hyannis 14 2 Ludlow 14 3 Plymouth 14 8 Shrewsbury 14 5 Whitinsville 14 1 Belchertown 13 2 Mattapan 13 5 Needham Heights 13 4 North Reading 13 2 Shirley 13 1 West Boylston 13 1 Whitman 13 2 Wilmington 13 3 Belmont 12 3 Beverly 12 5 Billerica 12 5 Mansfield 12 3 Medford 12 7 Plainville 12 1 Reading 12 3 South Hamilton 12 1 Watertown 12 4 Westfield 12 5 Westport 12 2 Attleborough 11 5 Charlestown 11 2 Danvers 11 3 Greenfield 11 2 Manchaug 11 1 Sudbury 11 2 Sutton 11 1 Weymouth 11 6 Allston 10 3 Bourne 10 2 Dracut 10 3 Gloucester 10 3 Acushnet 9 1 Arlington 9 4 Hull 9 1 Leicester 9 1 Rochdale 9 1 South Easton 9 1 Stoneham 9 2 Wrentham 9 1 Brookline 8 5 Burlington 8 2 Walpole 8 2 West Harwich 8 1 Charlton 7 1 Dennis 7 1 East Bridgewater 7 1 East Weymouth 7 4 Marshfield 7 2 Medway 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Raynham 7 1 Seekonk 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Wilbraham 7 1 Brighton 6 3 Duxbury 6 1 Easthampton 6 1 Franklin 6 2 Hopkinton 6 1 Lexington 6 2 Longmeadow 6 1 Boston 5 31 Dartmouth 5 2 Norton 5 1 Pembroke 5 1 Scituate 5 1 Sharon 5 1 South Hadley 5 1 South Weymouth 5 3 Westborough 5 1 Canton 4 1 Hingham 4 1 North Dartmouth 4 1 Onset 4 1 Sandwich 4 1 Wakefield 4 1 Melrose 3 1 Milton 3 1 Needham 3 1 Northampton 3 1 Roxbury Crossing 3 2 E. Boston 2 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 (not given) 0 197 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 Berkshire 316 51 Plymouth 254 110 Bristol 248 204 Barnstable 238 46 Worcester 224 250 Norfolk 165 141 Hampden 154 110 Essex 140 154 Middlesex 114 267 Nantucket 113 4 Franklin 104 11 Suffolk 97 193 Dukes 48 2 Hampshire 43 8 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/.