Filings Month Ending 2021 December 31

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-12-01 Search Period End: 2021-12-31 Earliest Case: 2021-12-01 Latest Case: 2021-12-31 Total Cases: 1931 Total Transfers: 59 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 34.7% Of those, percentage pro se: 51.1% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Pocasset Least stable with 10+ filings: North Adams Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 64 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 320 16.6% northeast 315 16.3% western 302 15.6% southeast 277 14.3% eastern 266 13.8% metro_south 162 8.4% quincy district 35 1.8% northern berkshire district 24 1.2% lynn district 17 0.9% fallmouth district 15 0.8% lawrence district 13 0.7% malden district 13 0.7% attleboro district 12 0.6% fall river district 11 0.6% new bedford district 10 0.5% waltham district 10 0.5% chelsea district 9 0.5% lowell district 9 0.5% barnstable district 8 0.4% plymouth district 8 0.4% brockton district 7 0.4% somerville district 7 0.4% bmc east boston 5 0.3% haverhill district 5 0.3% palmer district 5 0.3% pittsfield district 5 0.3% springfield district 5 0.3% wareham district 5 0.3% bmc brighton 4 0.2% bmc west roxbury 4 0.2% cambridge district 4 0.2% woburn district 4 0.2% ayer district 3 0.2% holyoke district 3 0.2% newburyport district 3 0.2% orleans district 3 0.2% chicopee district 2 0.1% clinton district 2 0.1% concord district 2 0.1% framingham district 2 0.1% milford district 2 0.1% bmc south boston 1 0.1% edgartown district 1 0.1% gloucester district 1 0.1% hingham district 1 0.1% nantucket district 1 0.1% newton district 1 0.1% peabody district 1 0.1% salem district 1 0.1% southern berkshire district 1 0.1% stoughton district 1 0.1% taunton district 1 0.1% westfield district 1 0.1% wrentham district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 1260 6 Natural Person 671 1925 Total 1931 1931 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 65.3% 0.3% Natural Person 34.7% 99.7% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 1190 70 1260 Optional 328 343 671 Total 1518 413 1931 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 61.6% 3.6% 65.3% Optional 17.0% 17.8% 34.7% Total 78.6% 21.4% 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 1 5 6 Optional 16 1909 1925 Total 17 1914 1931 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.1% 0.3% 0.3% Optional 0.8% 98.9% 99.7% Total 0.9% 99.1% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 174 9.0% 1 1292 66.9% 2 373 19.3% 3 58 3.0% 4 24 1.2% 5 9 0.5% 6 1 0.1% Total 1931 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 1135 58.8% Cause 397 20.6% No Fault 366 19.0% Foreclosure 32 1.7% Unknown/Other 1 0.1% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Pocasset 311 9 Tolland 206 1 North Adams 182 25 Florida 132 1 East Falmouth 121 7 Southbridge 107 18 Berlin 104 3 Fall River 91 81 Webster 89 15 West Warren 88 1 New Bedford 86 82 Gardner 84 17 Royalston 79 1 West Chatham 78 1 Fitchburg 74 30 Wellfleet 72 2 Provincetown 67 2 Braintree 64 23 East Taunton 62 4 Salisbury 60 5 Marlborough 59 23 Rockland 57 10 Hyannis 56 8 West Yarmouth 56 3 Vineyard Haven 52 1 Rowley 51 3 South Yarmouth 51 6 Lowell 50 54 Worcester 50 91 Mattapoisett 49 3 Quincy 49 46 Methuen 48 23 Winchendon 48 5 Chestnut Hill 47 1 Brockton 46 44 Randolph 46 15 Chelsea 45 16 West Dennis 45 1 Clinton 44 6 Whitinsville 43 3 Haverhill 42 26 Revere 42 22 Lawrence 41 32 Leominster 41 17 Whitman 41 6 East Freetown 40 2 Framingham 39 27 Abington 37 6 North Falmouth 37 1 Andover 36 12 Plainville 36 3 North Andover 35 10 Mendon 34 2 North Attleborough 34 10 Three Rivers 34 1 Mattapan 32 12 Dennis Port 31 1 Merrimac 31 2 Dorchester 30 28 Middleborough 30 7 Newbury 30 2 North Easton 30 4 Plymouth 30 17 Buzzards Bay 29 1 East Boston 29 12 Princeton 29 1 East Sandwich 28 1 Jefferson 28 1 Lakeville 28 3 Milford 28 8 Taunton 28 16 Holbrook 27 3 Shirley 27 2 South Dennis 27 1 Wrentham 27 3 Ayer 26 2 Hudson 26 5 Athol 25 3 Newton Center 25 1 Spencer 25 3 Stoughton 25 7 Lancaster 24 2 Allston 23 7 Canton 23 5 Attleborough 22 10 Bridgewater 22 6 Littleton 22 2 Newburyport 22 4 Jamaica Plain 21 8 Mashpee 21 3 North Dartmouth 21 5 Roxbury 21 13 Marion 20 1 Marstons Mills 20 1 Paxton 20 1 Roslindale 20 6 Hull 19 2 Maynard 19 2 Nantucket 19 2 Newtonville 19 1 Northbridge 19 3 Warren 19 1 Acton 18 4 North Billerica 18 2 Dudley 17 2 Lynn 17 16 Belmont 16 4 Dracut 16 5 Hopedale 16 1 Lee 16 1 West Roxbury 16 5 Westborough 16 3 Dorchester Center 15 14 Groveland 15 1 Wayland 15 2 Billerica 14 6 Dalton 14 1 East Weymouth 14 8 Hyde Park 14 5 Shrewsbury 14 5 Somerville 14 11 Swampscott 14 2 West Bridgewater 14 1 Halifax 13 1 Hingham 13 3 Upton 13 1 Bellingham 12 2 East Templeton 12 1 Franklin 12 4 Mansfield 12 3 Medford 12 7 Millis 12 1 Rutland 12 1 Blackstone 11 1 Brighton 11 5 Foxborough 11 2 Marshfield 11 3 Melrose 11 3 Monson 11 1 Pittsfield 11 5 Sudbury 11 2 Weymouth 11 6 Brewster 10 1 Malden 10 6 Needham Heights 10 3 Norton 10 2 Acushnet 9 1 Cherry Valley 9 1 Falmouth 9 3 Leicester 9 1 Ludlow 9 2 Sandwich 9 2 Watertown 9 3 Carver 8 1 Chelmsford 8 3 Dedham 8 2 Easton 8 2 Harwich 8 1 Pepperell 8 1 Tyngsborough 8 1 Wakefield 8 2 Holyoke 7 3 Kingston 7 1 Millbury 7 1 Milton 7 2 Northborough 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Raynham 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Amesbury 6 1 Ashland 6 1 Auburn 6 1 Hopkinton 6 1 Natick 6 2 Needham 6 2 Norwood 6 2 Westport 6 1 Brookline 5 3 Cambridge 5 6 Charlestown 5 1 Holden 5 1 Somerset 5 1 South Dartmouth 5 2 Winthrop 5 1 Woburn 5 2 Arlington 4 2 E. Boston 4 2 East Wareham 4 1 Everett 4 2 Salem 4 2 Walpole 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Boston 3 21 Chicopee 3 2 East Walpole 3 1 Gloucester 3 1 Saugus 3 1 Springfield 3 6 Tewksbury 3 1 West Springfield 3 1 Beverly 2 1 North Weymouth 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 South Weymouth 1 1 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 550 span 0 5 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 284 55 Bristol 275 227 Plymouth 270 117 Worcester 229 255 Berkshire 204 33 Norfolk 172 147 Essex 130 144 Suffolk 90 179 Middlesex 85 199 Nantucket 56 2 Dukes 24 1 Hampden 23 17 Franklin 0 0 Hampshire 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/.