Filings Week Ending 2020 October 24

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases recently filed, for which outcomes remain largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2020-10-18 Search Period End: 2020-10-24 Earliest Case: 2020-10-19 Latest Case: 2020-10-23 Total Cases: 49 Total Transfers: 7 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 65.3% Of those, percentage pro se: 62.5% Most common cause: Cause Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Vineyard Haven Least stable with 10+ filings: n/a Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Dukes The number of filings this period is statistically significantly below the pre-pandemic housing crisis baseline. -- Courts (n) Count Percent northeast 16 32.7% southeast 8 16.3% eastern 6 12.2% central 6 12.2% metro_south 6 12.2% western 5 10.2% somerville district 1 2.0% taunton district 1 2.0% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 17 0 Natural Person 32 49 Total 49 49 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 34.7% 0.0% Natural Person 65.3% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 16 1 17 Optional 12 20 32 Total 28 21 49 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 32.7% 2.0% 34.7% Optional 24.5% 40.8% 65.3% Total 57.1% 42.9% 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 0 0 Optional 5 44 49 Total 5 44 49 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Optional 10.2% 89.8% 100.0% Total 10.2% 89.8% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 1 36 73.5% 2 10 20.4% 3 3 6.1% Total 49 100.0% Initiating Action Count Percent Cause 21 42.9% Non-payment 18 36.7% No Fault 5 10.2% Foreclosure 3 6.1% Other 2 4.1% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Vineyard Haven 52 1 Osterville 28 1 East Falmouth 17 1 Topsfield 16 1 Shirley 13 1 Southbridge 11 2 Amesbury 6 1 Brockton 5 5 Newburyport 5 1 Pembroke 5 1 Hingham 4 1 Pittsfield 4 2 Bridgewater 3 1 Danvers 3 1 Haverhill 3 2 Lawrence 3 3 Marshfield 3 1 Natick 3 1 Beverly 2 1 Chelsea 2 1 Dorchester 2 2 Everett 2 1 Lynn 2 2 Methuen 2 1 New Bedford 2 2 Somerville 2 2 South Boston 2 1 Chicopee 1 1 Malden 1 1 Medford 1 1 Springfield 1 2 Worcester 1 2 (not given) 0 2 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 Dukes 24 1 Plymouth 20 9 Berkshire 12 2 Essex 11 13 Barnstable 10 2 Hampden 4 3 Middlesex 3 7 Worcester 3 4 Bristol 2 2 Suffolk 2 4 Franklin 0 0 Hampshire 0 0 Nantucket 0 0 Norfolk 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. 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/.