Filings Month Ending 2022 March 31

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-03-01 Search Period End: 2022-03-31 Earliest Case: 2022-03-01 Latest Case: 2022-03-31 Total Cases: 2200 Total Transfers: 61 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 34.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 53.7% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Lenox Dale Least stable with 10+ filings: West Yarmouth Least stable with 100+ filings: Worcester Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 73 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 508 23.1% central 351 16.0% eastern 293 13.3% western 282 12.8% southeast 278 12.6% metro_south 180 8.2% lynn district 35 1.6% quincy district 26 1.2% pittsfield district 19 0.9% malden district 14 0.6% bmc west roxbury 12 0.5% waltham district 12 0.5% northern berkshire district 11 0.5% barnstable district 10 0.5% brockton district 10 0.5% fall river district 10 0.5% framingham district 10 0.5% attleboro district 9 0.4% haverhill district 9 0.4% lowell district 8 0.4% new bedford district 8 0.4% chelsea district 7 0.3% somerville district 7 0.3% springfield district 7 0.3% woburn district 6 0.3% cambridge district 5 0.2% salem district 5 0.2% bmc brighton 4 0.2% bmc east boston 4 0.2% dedham district 4 0.2% newburyport district 4 0.2% newton district 4 0.2% orleans district 4 0.2% wareham district 4 0.2% westfield district 4 0.2% concord district 3 0.1% hingham district 3 0.1% worcester district 3 0.1% ayer district 2 0.1% bmc south boston 2 0.1% eastern hampshire district 2 0.1% gloucester district 2 0.1% plymouth district 2 0.1% stoughton district 2 0.1% wrentham district 2 0.1% bmc central 1 0.0% bmc roxbury 1 0.0% brookline district 1 0.0% chicopee district 1 0.0% fallmouth district 1 0.0% holyoke district 1 0.0% milford district 1 0.0% nantucket district 1 0.0% northampton district 1 0.0% orange district 1 0.0% peabody district 1 0.0% southern berkshire district 1 0.0% taunton district 1 0.0% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 1447 13 Natural Person 753 2187 Total 2200 2200 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 65.8% 0.6% Natural Person 34.2% 99.4% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 1406 41 1447 Optional 349 404 753 Total 1755 445 2200 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 63.9% 1.9% 65.8% Optional 15.9% 18.4% 34.2% Total 79.8% 20.2% 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 0 13 13 Optional 26 2161 2187 Total 26 2174 2200 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.6% 0.6% Optional 1.2% 98.2% 99.4% Total 1.2% 98.8% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 172 7.8% 1 1552 70.5% 2 380 17.3% 3 64 2.9% 4 26 1.2% 5 5 0.2% 6 1 0.0% Total 2200 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 1233 56.0% Cause 472 21.5% No Fault 446 20.3% Foreclosure 49 2.2% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Lenox Dale 214 1 West Yarmouth 189 10 Cummaquid 182 1 Vineyard Haven 158 3 South Chatham 97 1 West Warren 88 1 Gilbertville 86 1 Worcester 84 153 Royalston 79 1 Webster 77 13 New Bedford 76 73 North Adams 72 10 Mattapan 71 26 Dudley 70 8 Plympton 70 2 Fall River 69 62 Lynn 61 56 Athol 60 7 Bridgewater 60 16 Framingham 60 41 Brockton 59 56 Fitchburg 59 24 Revere 59 31 Southbridge 59 10 Buzzards Bay 58 2 Becket 56 1 Russell 56 1 Gardner 54 11 South Dennis 54 2 Baldwinville 52 1 East Falmouth 51 3 Roslindale 51 15 Brewster 50 5 Taunton 50 28 Hinsdale 49 1 Randolph 49 16 Chelsea 48 17 Lowell 48 52 South Easton 48 5 Winchendon 48 5 Chestnut Hill 47 1 Middleborough 47 11 East Taunton 46 3 West Dennis 45 1 Attleborough 43 19 Roxbury 43 26 Hyannis 42 6 Spencer 42 5 Braintree 41 15 Quincy 40 37 Dorchester 39 36 Yarmouth Port 39 2 Auburn 37 6 Barre 37 2 Holbrook 37 4 Tewksbury 37 11 Marlborough 36 14 Berlin 34 1 Pocasset 34 1 Rockland 34 6 Sharon 34 6 Woburn 34 13 Malden 33 20 Pittsfield 33 15 Provincetown 33 1 Haverhill 32 20 Milford 32 9 Westborough 32 6 Dennis Port 31 1 Kingston 31 4 Cotuit 30 1 Saugus 30 8 Hyde Park 29 10 Lunenburg 29 3 Oxford 29 4 Stoughton 29 8 Lakeville 28 3 Winthrop 28 5 Norwood 27 8 West Brookfield 27 1 Weymouth 27 15 Whitman 27 4 Carver 26 3 Medford 26 15 Newton Center 25 1 Watertown 25 8 Amesbury 24 4 Jamaica Plain 24 9 North Attleborough 24 7 Salem 24 10 Cambridge 23 25 Avon 22 1 Blackstone 22 2 Clinton 22 3 Forestdale 22 1 Oak Bluffs 22 1 Townsend 22 2 Auburndale 21 2 Dorchester Center 21 20 Hanover 21 3 North Dartmouth 21 5 South Boston 20 7 East Boston 19 8 Marshfield 19 5 Maynard 19 2 Sandwich 19 4 Franklin 18 6 South Barre 18 1 Foxborough 17 3 Leominster 17 7 North Andover 17 5 South Yarmouth 17 2 Burlington 16 4 Chatham 16 1 Scituate 16 3 Beverly 15 6 Lincoln 15 1 Norton 15 3 Peabody 15 8 Billerica 14 6 Centerville 14 2 Lawrence 14 11 Mashpee 14 2 Melrose 14 4 Rockport 14 1 Swampscott 14 2 Uxbridge 14 2 Whitinsville 14 1 Acton 13 3 Allston 13 4 Ayer 13 1 Dracut 13 4 North Reading 13 2 Upton 13 1 Waltham 13 8 Wareham 13 3 West Boylston 13 1 Westminster 13 1 Abington 12 2 Bellingham 12 2 Dedham 12 3 Lancaster 12 1 Methuen 12 6 Millis 12 1 Plymouth 12 7 Salisbury 12 1 Swansea 12 2 Adams 11 1 Brighton 11 5 Charlestown 11 2 Danvers 11 3 Douglas 11 1 Everett 11 5 Grafton 11 2 Somerville 11 9 Gloucester 10 3 Hudson 10 2 North Chelmsford 10 1 Southwick 10 1 Sturbridge 10 1 Ware 10 1 Acushnet 9 1 East Weymouth 9 5 Hingham 9 2 Leicester 9 1 Nantucket 9 1 Natick 9 3 Onset 9 2 South Weymouth 9 5 West Roxbury 9 3 Winchester 9 2 Wrentham 9 1 Brookline 8 5 Chelmsford 8 3 Feeding Hills 8 1 Harwich 8 1 Lynnfield 8 1 Mansfield 8 2 Shrewsbury 8 3 Charlton 7 1 East Bridgewater 7 1 Holliston 7 1 Millbury 7 1 North Easton 7 1 Wayland 7 1 Boston 6 43 Fairhaven 6 1 Lexington 6 2 Westwood 6 1 Greenfield 5 1 Holden 5 1 Pembroke 5 1 South Dartmouth 5 2 South Hadley 5 1 Belmont 4 1 Canton 4 1 E. Boston 4 2 Reading 4 1 Wakefield 4 1 Wilmington 4 1 Andover 3 1 East Walpole 3 1 Falmouth 3 1 Milton 3 1 Needham Heights 3 1 Newton 3 3 Roxbury Crossing 3 2 Wellesley Hills 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Dartmouth 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 Newton Highlands 2 2 Westfield 2 1 Chicopee 1 1 North Weymouth 1 1 Springfield 1 3 (not given) 0 607 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 310 134 Worcester 272 303 Barnstable 264 51 Bristol 261 215 Berkshire 179 29 Norfolk 174 149 Suffolk 137 271 Essex 132 146 Middlesex 119 278 Dukes 97 4 Nantucket 28 1 Hampden 12 9 Hampshire 10 2 Franklin 9 1 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. Methodology changes: 2022-03: Where docket history shows judgment and/or execution, but case has not been disposed, infer judgment and/or execution. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.