Filings Week Ending 2020 November 21

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases recently filed, for which outcomes remain largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2020-11-15 Search Period End: 2020-11-21 Earliest Case: 2020-11-16 Latest Case: 2020-11-21 Total Cases: 810 Total Transfers: 4 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 40.9% Of those, percentage pro se: 63.7% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Buzzards Bay Least stable with 10+ filings: Norwood Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Berkshire The number of filings this period is not statistically different from the pre-pandemic housing crisis baseline. -- Courts (n) Count Percent northeast 172 21.2% metro_south 126 15.6% central 118 14.6% southeast 106 13.1% western 101 12.5% eastern 69 8.5% malden district 17 2.1% barnstable district 14 1.7% pittsfield district 12 1.5% cambridge district 9 1.1% lynn district 8 1.0% bmc east boston 5 0.6% quincy district 5 0.6% bmc brighton 4 0.5% northern berkshire district 4 0.5% dedham district 3 0.4% fall river district 3 0.4% fallmouth district 3 0.4% lowell district 3 0.4% new bedford district 3 0.4% orleans district 3 0.4% palmer district 3 0.4% waltham district 3 0.4% southern berkshire district 2 0.2% wrentham district 2 0.2% chicopee district 1 0.1% eastern hampshire district 1 0.1% gloucester district 1 0.1% lawrence district 1 0.1% natick district 1 0.1% newburyport district 1 0.1% newton district 1 0.1% northampton district 1 0.1% orange district 1 0.1% salem district 1 0.1% somerville district 1 0.1% westborough district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 479 1 Natural Person 331 809 Total 810 810 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 59.1% 0.1% Natural Person 40.9% 99.9% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 459 20 479 Optional 120 211 331 Total 579 231 810 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 56.7% 2.5% 59.1% Optional 14.8% 26.0% 40.9% Total 71.5% 28.5% 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 1 1 Optional 14 795 809 Total 14 796 810 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% Optional 1.7% 98.1% 99.9% Total 1.7% 98.3% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 42 5.2% 1 536 66.2% 2 197 24.3% 3 24 3.0% 4 9 1.1% 5 1 0.1% 6 1 0.1% Total 810 100.0% 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 600 74.1% Unknown/Other 118 14.6% Cause 74 9.1% No Fault 14 1.7% Foreclosure 4 0.5% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Buzzards Bay 87 3 Norwood 87 25 West Chatham 78 1 Ashfield 57 1 Shutesbury 56 1 Baldwinville 52 1 South Yarmouth 51 6 Lowell 44 47 Hyannis 42 6 Lawrence 39 30 Lunenburg 39 4 Middleborough 38 9 Pittsfield 37 17 Southbridge 35 6 Brockton 34 32 Newburyport 34 6 Three Rivers 34 1 Lynn 33 30 Ashby 32 1 Milford 32 9 West Springfield 31 9 Braintree 30 11 Fall River 30 27 Ware 30 3 Salem 29 12 Great Barrington 28 2 Jefferson 28 1 New Bedford 28 27 Worcester 28 52 South Dennis 27 1 West Brookfield 27 1 Whitman 27 4 Malden 26 16 Newton Center 25 1 Gardner 24 5 Tewksbury 24 7 Turners Falls 24 1 Weymouth 24 13 Adams 23 2 North Dighton 23 1 Rockland 22 4 South Hadley 22 4 Everett 21 9 Methuen 21 10 North Adams 21 3 Sturbridge 21 2 Allston 20 6 Attleborough 20 9 Boxborough 20 1 Marstons Mills 20 1 Westwood 20 3 Hadley 19 1 Hull 19 2 Indian Orchard 19 2 Sandwich 19 4 Yarmouth Port 19 1 Easthampton 18 3 Springfield 18 28 Athol 17 2 Greenfield 17 3 Hyde Park 17 6 Leominster 17 7 Needham 17 5 Webster 17 3 Mattapoisett 16 1 Marblehead 15 3 Merrimac 15 1 Fitchburg 14 6 Northborough 14 2 North Attleborough 13 4 Upton 13 1 Westford 13 3 Abington 12 2 Chicopee 12 7 East Boston 12 5 Holyoke 12 5 Plainville 12 1 Rutland 12 1 Walpole 12 3 Williamstown 12 1 Assonet 11 1 Cambridge 11 12 Foxborough 11 2 Framingham 11 8 Montague 11 1 Townsend 11 1 Dorchester Center 10 10 Marlborough 10 4 North Chelmsford 10 1 Taunton 10 6 Hanson 9 1 Holbrook 9 1 North Billerica 9 1 Carver 8 1 Chelsea 8 3 Dudley 8 1 Harwich 8 1 Lynnfield 8 1 Bridgewater 7 2 Charlton 7 1 Hanover 7 1 Ipswich 7 1 Marshfield 7 2 Mashpee 7 1 Medford 7 4 Raynham 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Westfield 7 3 Amesbury 6 1 Andover 6 2 Belchertown 6 1 Dorchester 6 6 Hopkinton 6 1 Longmeadow 6 1 Randolph 6 2 Roxbury 6 4 Swansea 6 1 Waltham 6 4 West Roxbury 6 2 Beverly 5 2 Charlestown 5 1 Mattapan 5 2 Pembroke 5 1 Sharon 5 1 Winthrop 5 1 Woburn 5 2 Arlington 4 2 Belmont 4 1 Brighton 4 2 E. Boston 4 2 Haverhill 4 3 Mansfield 4 1 Quincy 4 4 Reading 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Agawam 3 1 Danvers 3 1 Gloucester 3 1 Melrose 3 1 Milton 3 1 Northampton 3 1 Plymouth 3 2 Revere 3 2 Roslindale 3 1 Roxbury Crossing 3 2 South Weymouth 3 2 Barnstable 2 1 Newton 2 2 Shrewsbury 2 1 Boston 1 9 East Weymouth 1 1 Peabody 1 1 Somerville 1 1 (not given) 0 55 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 154 25 Plymouth 150 65 Barnstable 134 26 Worcester 96 107 Essex 95 105 Bristol 94 78 Norfolk 89 76 Hampden 80 57 Hampshire 70 13 Franklin 66 7 Middlesex 56 131 Suffolk 32 64 Dukes 0 0 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. 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/.