Filings Month Ending 2022 January 31

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-01-01 Search Period End: 2022-01-31 Earliest Case: 2022-01-03 Latest Case: 2022-01-31 Total Cases: 2163 Total Transfers: 41 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 29.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 54.6% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Randolph Least stable with 10+ filings: Randolph Least stable with 100+ filings: Worcester 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 374 17.3% western 359 16.6% central 348 16.1% southeast 267 12.3% eastern 255 11.8% metro_south 231 10.7% pittsfield district 31 1.4% malden district 29 1.3% quincy district 28 1.3% brockton district 23 1.1% attleboro district 17 0.8% fallmouth district 14 0.6% waltham district 14 0.6% barnstable district 13 0.6% bmc west roxbury 10 0.5% somerville district 10 0.5% woburn district 10 0.5% haverhill district 9 0.4% lowell district 9 0.4% springfield district 9 0.4% newburyport district 8 0.4% bmc east boston 7 0.3% cambridge district 7 0.3% lynn district 7 0.3% northern berkshire district 7 0.3% fall river district 6 0.3% plymouth district 6 0.3% chelsea district 5 0.2% bmc central 4 0.2% milford district 4 0.2% orleans district 4 0.2% westfield district 4 0.2% framingham district 3 0.1% new bedford district 3 0.1% newton district 3 0.1% taunton district 3 0.1% brookline district 2 0.1% concord district 2 0.1% eastern hampshire district 2 0.1% edgartown district 2 0.1% wrentham district 2 0.1% ayer district 1 0.0% bmc brighton 1 0.0% clinton district 1 0.0% dedham district 1 0.0% gloucester district 1 0.0% holyoke district 1 0.0% ipswich district 1 0.0% northampton district 1 0.0% orange district 1 0.0% palmer district 1 0.0% uxbridge district 1 0.0% worcester district 1 0.0% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 1531 10 Natural Person 632 2153 Total 2163 2163 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 70.8% 0.5% Natural Person 29.2% 99.5% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 1463 68 1531 Optional 287 345 632 Total 1750 413 2163 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 67.6% 3.1% 70.8% Optional 13.3% 16.0% 29.2% Total 80.9% 19.1% 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 7 10 Optional 30 2123 2153 Total 33 2130 2163 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.1% 0.3% 0.5% Optional 1.4% 98.2% 99.5% Total 1.5% 98.5% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 185 8.6% 1 1509 69.8% 2 382 17.7% 3 60 2.8% 4 15 0.7% 5 7 0.3% 6 4 0.2% 7 1 0.0% Total 2163 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 1363 63.0% Cause 415 19.2% No Fault 344 15.9% Foreclosure 39 1.8% Unknown/Other 2 0.1% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Randolph 130 42 Fiskdale 129 4 Sagamore 108 4 East Falmouth 103 6 South Chatham 97 1 West Warren 88 1 Hyannis 85 12 Southbridge 83 14 Fall River 76 68 Fitchburg 76 31 New Bedford 75 72 West Yarmouth 75 4 North Falmouth 74 2 Quincy 71 66 Athol 69 8 Norwood 69 20 Pocasset 69 2 Brockton 67 63 Stoughton 66 18 Dennis Port 63 2 Marlborough 62 24 Pittsfield 62 28 Rockland 62 11 Leominster 61 25 South Lancaster 61 1 Worcester 61 111 Clinton 58 8 Whitinsville 57 4 Northborough 56 8 Amesbury 55 9 Everett 55 23 Ashland 54 9 Baldwinville 52 1 Vineyard Haven 52 1 Plainville 48 4 South Easton 48 5 Gardner 44 9 South Grafton 44 2 Carver 43 5 Framingham 43 30 Marshfield 43 11 South Yarmouth 43 5 Sharon 39 7 Newtonville 38 2 Braintree 36 13 Wellfleet 36 1 Adams 35 3 Foxborough 35 6 Mashpee 35 5 Webster 35 6 Attleborough 34 15 Roslindale 34 10 Whitman 34 5 Blackstone 33 3 Hopedale 33 2 Mattapoisett 33 2 Sudbury 33 6 East Wareham 32 7 East Taunton 31 2 Middleborough 30 7 Taunton 30 17 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Dalton 29 2 Seekonk 29 4 Revere 28 15 West Bridgewater 28 2 Winthrop 28 5 Allston 27 8 Leicester 27 3 North Attleborough 27 8 Westborough 27 5 Westminster 27 2 Cohasset 26 2 Jamaica Plain 26 10 Franklin 25 8 Milford 25 7 Rutland 25 2 East Boston 24 10 Mattapan 24 9 Medford 23 13 Avon 22 1 Boylston 22 1 Chelsea 22 8 Dorchester 22 21 Forestdale 22 1 North Adams 21 3 Bolton 20 1 East Freetown 20 1 Hyde Park 20 7 Marstons Mills 20 1 Paxton 20 1 Roxbury 20 12 Ware 20 2 Hull 19 2 Lenox 19 1 Plymouth 19 11 Waltham 19 12 Abington 18 3 Auburn 18 3 Hingham 18 4 Lakeville 18 2 Onset 18 4 South Barre 18 1 Woburn 18 7 Wrentham 18 2 Mendon 17 1 Somerville 17 13 Ashburnham 16 1 North Dartmouth 16 4 West Roxbury 16 5 Berkley 15 1 Norton 15 3 Centerville 14 2 Haverhill 14 9 Natick 12 4 Northbridge 12 2 Sterling 12 1 Williamstown 12 1 Bridgewater 11 3 Dorchester Center 11 11 Shrewsbury 11 4 Somerset 11 2 Cambridge 10 11 Hudson 10 2 Southborough 10 1 Southwick 10 1 Canton 9 2 Lunenburg 9 1 Maynard 9 1 Nantucket 9 1 Wareham 9 2 Winchendon 9 1 Dudley 8 1 Feeding Hills 8 1 Lowell 8 9 Medfield 8 1 Rehoboth 8 1 Spencer 8 1 Walpole 8 2 West Harwich 8 1 Bedford 7 1 East Bridgewater 7 1 Hanover 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Lynn 7 7 Melrose 7 2 Oxford 7 1 Bellingham 6 1 Brighton 6 3 Hopkinton 6 1 Needham 6 2 Watertown 6 2 Westport 6 1 Bourne 5 1 Dartmouth 5 2 Grafton 5 1 Dedham 4 1 E. Boston 4 2 Stoneham 4 1 Westfield 4 2 Westford 4 1 Boston 3 24 Brookline 3 2 East Weymouth 3 2 Malden 3 2 South Weymouth 3 2 Weymouth 3 2 Arlington 2 1 Billerica 2 1 Chelmsford 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 South Boston 2 1 Lawrence 1 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 North Weymouth 1 1 Springfield 1 3 (not given) 0 855 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 340 147 Barnstable 264 51 Worcester 251 280 Bristol 250 206 Norfolk 242 207 Berkshire 235 38 Suffolk 81 161 Middlesex 77 180 Nantucket 28 1 Dukes 24 1 Essex 23 26 Hampden 11 8 Hampshire 10 2 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/.