Filings Week Ending 2020 December 05

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2020-11-29 Search Period End: 2020-12-05 Earliest Case: 2020-11-30 Latest Case: 2020-12-05 Total Cases: 568 Total Transfers: 0 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 29.4% Of those, percentage pro se: 61.1% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Russell Least stable with 10+ filings: Framingham Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Worcester Cases per day: 94 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 central 206 36.3% metro_south 77 13.6% eastern 71 12.5% western 61 10.7% southeast 53 9.3% northeast 39 6.9% fall river district 18 3.2% malden district 5 0.9% northern berkshire district 5 0.9% newburyport district 4 0.7% barnstable district 3 0.5% concord district 3 0.5% fallmouth district 3 0.5% pittsfield district 3 0.5% attleboro district 2 0.4% bmc brighton 2 0.4% bmc east boston 2 0.4% dedham district 2 0.4% ayer district 1 0.2% cambridge district 1 0.2% framingham district 1 0.2% lawrence district 1 0.2% new bedford district 1 0.2% plymouth district 1 0.2% salem district 1 0.2% wareham district 1 0.2% wrentham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 401 1 Natural Person 167 567 Total 568 568 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 70.6% 0.2% Natural Person 29.4% 99.8% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 391 10 401 Optional 65 102 167 Total 456 112 568 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 68.8% 1.8% 70.6% Optional 11.4% 18.0% 29.4% Total 80.3% 19.7% 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 12 555 567 Total 12 556 568 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.2% 0.2% Optional 2.1% 97.7% 99.8% Total 2.1% 97.9% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 19 3.3% 1 346 60.9% 2 172 30.3% 3 23 4.0% 4 5 0.9% 5 2 0.4% 6 1 0.2% Total 568 100.0% 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 453 79.8% Unknown/Other 61 10.7% Cause 31 5.5% No Fault 23 4.0% Foreclosure 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Russell 56 1 Framingham 55 38 Fall River 52 47 Salisbury 48 4 Fitchburg 44 18 Marlborough 44 17 Worcester 44 81 North Adams 43 6 Gardner 39 8 Canton 37 8 Whitman 34 5 Abington 31 5 Brookfield 29 1 Princeton 29 1 East Sandwich 28 1 Jefferson 28 1 South Dennis 27 1 Chelsea 25 9 North Grafton 25 2 Stoughton 25 7 Webster 23 4 Avon 22 1 Forestdale 22 1 Holyoke 22 9 Westborough 21 4 Bolton 20 1 Pittsfield 20 9 Indian Orchard 19 2 Winchendon 19 2 Athol 17 2 East Falmouth 17 1 Greenfield 17 3 Revere 17 9 Southbridge 17 3 Mattapan 16 6 Medfield 16 2 Walpole 16 4 Stow 15 1 Brockton 14 14 Hanover 14 2 Milford 14 4 West Springfield 14 4 Allston 13 4 Cohasset 13 1 New Bedford 13 13 Upton 13 1 West Boylston 13 1 Auburn 12 2 Chicopee 12 7 Orange 12 1 Blackstone 11 1 Douglas 11 1 Hyde Park 11 4 South Hadley 11 2 Springfield 11 18 Townsend 11 1 Roxbury 10 6 Southwick 10 1 Ware 10 1 Hanson 9 1 Leominster 9 4 Lunenburg 9 1 South Weymouth 9 5 Weymouth 9 5 Dorchester Center 8 8 Feeding Hills 8 1 Beverly 7 3 Charlton 7 1 East Boston 7 3 East Bridgewater 7 1 Everett 7 3 Hyannis 7 1 Ipswich 7 1 Mashpee 7 1 Northborough 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Swampscott 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Ashland 6 1 Brighton 6 3 Dorchester 6 6 Duxbury 6 1 Hopkinton 6 1 Lynn 6 6 Norwood 6 2 Swansea 6 1 Westwood 6 1 Foxborough 5 1 Newburyport 5 1 Norton 5 1 Winthrop 5 1 Acton 4 1 Attleborough 4 2 Dedham 4 1 E. Boston 4 2 East Wareham 4 1 Middleborough 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Westfield 4 2 Bridgewater 3 1 Brookline 3 2 Danvers 3 1 Falmouth 3 1 Franklin 3 1 Lexington 3 1 Malden 3 2 Marshfield 3 1 Medford 3 2 Natick 3 1 Northampton 3 1 Peabody 3 2 Plymouth 3 2 Randolph 3 1 Watertown 3 1 West Roxbury 3 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 Lawrence 2 2 Shrewsbury 2 1 Quincy 1 1 Somerville 1 1 (not given) 0 41 Boston 0 4 Cambridge 0 1 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 Worcester 132 148 Berkshire 92 15 Plymouth 83 36 Bristol 77 64 Hampden 63 45 Norfolk 50 43 Franklin 37 4 Barnstable 36 7 Suffolk 33 67 Middlesex 30 72 Hampshire 21 4 Essex 19 21 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/.