Filings Month Ending 2024 January 31

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2024-01-01 Search Period End: 2024-01-31 Earliest Case: 2024-01-01 Latest Case: 2024-01-31 Total Cases: 3359 Total Transfers: 91 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 23.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 51.8% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Florence Least stable with 10+ filings: Holyoke Least stable with 100+ filings: Brockton Least stable county: Berkshire Cases per day: 111 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 589 17.5% eastern 587 17.5% central 515 15.3% western 448 13.3% metro_south 357 10.6% southeast 354 10.5% malden district 40 1.2% brockton district 34 1.0% lynn district 33 1.0% pittsfield district 33 1.0% lawrence district 32 1.0% chelsea district 29 0.9% somerville district 28 0.8% quincy district 25 0.7% fall river district 20 0.6% framingham district 20 0.6% lowell district 20 0.6% haverhill district 19 0.6% springfield district 12 0.4% waltham district 12 0.4% cambridge district 10 0.3% northern berkshire district 10 0.3% bmc roxbury 9 0.3% bmc dorchester 8 0.2% bmc east boston 8 0.2% chicopee district 8 0.2% holyoke district 8 0.2% bmc central 7 0.2% bmc west roxbury 7 0.2% woburn district 6 0.2% attleboro district 5 0.1% peabody district 5 0.1% barnstable district 4 0.1% brookline district 4 0.1% worcester district 4 0.1% wrentham district 4 0.1% ayer district 3 0.1% dedham district 3 0.1% new bedford district 3 0.1% newton district 3 0.1% orleans district 3 0.1% palmer district 3 0.1% westfield district 3 0.1% clinton district 2 0.1% fallmouth district 2 0.1% milford district 2 0.1% newburyport district 2 0.1% plymouth district 2 0.1% salem district 2 0.1% southern berkshire district 2 0.1% stoughton district 2 0.1% taunton district 2 0.1% bmc brighton 1 0.0% concord district 1 0.0% edgartown district 1 0.0% greenfield district 1 0.0% natick district 1 0.0% wareham district 1 0.0% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 2579 4 Natural Person 780 3355 Total 3359 3359 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 76.8% 0.1% Natural Person 23.2% 99.9% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 2533 46 2579 Optional 376 404 780 Total 2909 450 3359 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 75.4% 1.4% 76.8% Optional 11.2% 12.0% 23.2% Total 86.6% 13.4% 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 0 4 4 Optional 29 3326 3355 Total 29 3330 3359 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% Optional 0.9% 99.0% 99.9% Total 0.9% 99.1% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 108 3.2% 1 2459 73.2% 2 644 19.2% 3 118 3.5% 4 23 0.7% 5 4 0.1% 6 3 0.1% Total 3359 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 2468 73.5% Cause 493 14.7% No Fault 370 11.0% Foreclosure 26 0.8% Unknown/Other 2 0.1% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Florence 632 6 Lenox Dale 214 1 Sunderland 190 7 Holyoke 173 69 North Adams 160 22 Chelsea 150 53 North Chatham 142 1 Florida 132 1 Southbridge 131 22 South Lancaster 122 2 Brockton 121 114 Westborough 120 22 Indian Orchard 119 12 Pittsfield 116 52 Fall River 114 102 Marlborough 111 43 Lowell 109 117 Dorchester 105 97 Randolph 105 34 Springfield 105 162 Norwood 104 30 Roxbury 103 62 Three Rivers 102 3 Worcester 102 185 Stoughton 100 27 Whitinsville 100 7 Framingham 99 68 New Bedford 98 94 Revere 98 51 Chestnut Hill 94 2 Fitchburg 94 38 West Townsend 94 2 Hyde Park 92 31 West Wareham 92 2 Canton 88 19 Buzzards Bay 87 3 Gardner 79 16 Charlemont 78 1 Athol 77 9 Chicopee 77 43 Malden 77 46 South Egremont 72 1 Great Barrington 70 5 Ware 70 7 West Barnstable 70 2 West Springfield 70 20 Berlin 69 2 Woburn 68 26 Braintree 67 24 Ashland 66 11 Cohasset 66 5 Lynn 59 54 Quincy 59 55 Everett 57 24 Medford 56 32 Russell 56 1 West Boylston 52 4 East Falmouth 51 3 Feeding Hills 51 6 Roslindale 51 15 Stockbridge 51 1 Milford 50 14 Taunton 50 28 Hyannis 49 7 Acushnet 48 5 Tewksbury 48 14 Adams 47 4 Dracut 47 14 Leominster 46 19 West Dennis 45 1 Winthrop 45 8 Dalton 44 3 Somerville 44 34 Waltham 42 26 Cambridge 41 44 Dorchester Center 41 38 East Boston 41 17 Foxborough 41 7 Marstons Mills 41 2 Mattapan 41 15 Greenfield 40 7 Lunenburg 39 4 Attleborough 38 17 Abington 37 6 Bridgewater 37 10 Raynham 37 5 Burlington 36 9 Clinton 36 5 Lawrence 36 28 Oxford 36 5 West Tisbury 36 1 Webster 35 6 Allston 34 10 Franklin 34 11 North Attleborough 34 10 Pocasset 34 1 Westwood 34 5 Concord 33 6 Hopedale 33 2 Orleans 33 2 Provincetown 33 1 Billerica 32 13 Fiskdale 32 1 Jamaica Plain 32 12 Brighton 31 14 Dennis Port 31 1 Marshfield 31 8 Weymouth 31 17 Wilmington 31 7 Mansfield 30 7 Middleborough 30 7 Princeton 29 1 Seekonk 29 4 South Easton 29 3 West Roxbury 29 9 Dennisport 28 1 Essex 28 1 North Billerica 28 3 Northborough 28 4 West Bridgewater 28 2 Acton 27 6 Haverhill 27 17 Sagamore 27 1 Sagamore Beach 27 1 Shirley 27 2 South Dennis 27 1 Wrentham 27 3 Ayer 26 2 Carver 26 3 Halifax 26 2 Tyngsborough 26 3 Upton 26 2 Westfield 26 11 Newton Center 25 1 Roxbury Crossing 25 15 South Yarmouth 25 3 Spencer 25 3 Agawam 24 7 Easthampton 24 4 Edgartown 24 1 Plainville 24 2 Templeton 24 2 Ludlow 23 5 Avon 22 1 Oak Bluffs 22 1 Pembroke 22 4 Rockland 22 4 Saugus 22 6 Auburndale 21 2 Northampton 21 6 Watertown 21 7 Brewster 20 2 Hopkinton 20 3 South Boston 20 7 Wakefield 20 5 Whitman 20 3 Deerfield 19 1 Hampden 19 1 Hanson 19 2 Maynard 19 2 Newtonville 19 1 Salem 19 8 Shrewsbury 19 7 Warren 19 1 Winchendon 19 2 Auburn 18 3 Danvers 18 5 Fairhaven 18 3 Holbrook 18 2 Lakeville 18 2 Stoneham 18 4 Wareham 18 4 West Yarmouth 18 1 Dudley 17 2 Groton 17 2 Lynnfield 17 2 Southampton 17 1 Belmont 16 4 Chatham 16 1 East Weymouth 16 9 Granby 16 1 Mattapoisett 16 1 Medfield 16 2 Palmer 16 2 Bedford 15 2 Berkley 15 1 East Taunton 15 1 Hudson 15 3 Lexington 15 5 Marblehead 15 3 Millbury 15 2 Natick 15 5 Norton 15 3 Peabody 15 8 Centerville 14 2 Hanover 14 2 Plymouth 14 8 Belchertown 13 2 Boston 13 83 Duxbury 13 2 Gloucester 13 4 Needham Heights 13 4 Westminster 13 1 Georgetown 12 1 Lancaster 12 1 Millis 12 1 North Grafton 12 1 Northbridge 12 2 Orange 12 1 Reading 12 3 Rutland 12 1 Sterling 12 1 Waban 12 1 Douglas 11 1 Littleton 11 1 Monson 11 1 Beverly 10 4 Bourne 10 2 North Chelmsford 10 1 Sturbridge 10 1 Wellesley 10 3 Cherry Valley 9 1 Leicester 9 1 Rochdale 9 1 Chelmsford 8 3 Dedham 8 2 Norfolk 8 1 North Dartmouth 8 2 Pepperell 8 1 Walpole 8 2 West Harwich 8 1 Amherst 7 3 Arlington 7 3 E. Boston 7 3 East Bridgewater 7 1 Mashpee 7 1 Medway 7 1 Melrose 7 2 Milton 7 2 Newton Highlands 7 6 North Easton 7 1 Swampscott 7 1 Wayland 7 1 Amesbury 6 1 Bellingham 6 1 Brookline 6 4 Methuen 6 3 Swansea 6 1 Westport 6 1 Charlestown 5 1 Grafton 5 1 Holden 5 1 Newburyport 5 1 Scituate 5 1 Sharon 5 1 Somerset 5 1 South Dartmouth 5 2 South Hadley 5 1 East Wareham 4 1 Hingham 4 1 Sandwich 4 1 Westford 4 1 Winchester 4 1 Andover 3 1 Needham 3 1 North Weymouth 3 2 South Weymouth 3 2 Newton 2 2 E. Weymouth 1 1 Newton Lower Falls 1 1 (not given) 0 348 span 0 1 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 557 90 Hampden 482 343 Plymouth 440 190 Worcester 364 406 Bristol 353 291 Norfolk 332 283 Suffolk 274 541 Middlesex 267 625 Barnstable 217 42 Hampshire 168 31 Franklin 161 17 Essex 134 148 Dukes 73 3 Nantucket 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. Methodology changes: 2022-03: Where docket history shows judgment and/or execution, but case has not been disposed, infer judgment and/or execution. 2022-05: Correct counting error in 'By prevailing party' section where agreement for judgment renders prevailing party unknown. Rows now sum to total. 2023-01: We now report dispositions on the basis of the last disposition found in a docket. Previously we were using a prioritized keyword match, which produced inaccurate results for complex cases. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.