Filings Week Ending 2020 December 19

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2020-12-13 Search Period End: 2020-12-19 Earliest Case: 2020-12-14 Latest Case: 2020-12-18 Total Cases: 944 Total Transfers: 6 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 28.3% Of those, percentage pro se: 46.4% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Savoy Least stable with 10+ filings: Marlborough Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Worcester Cases per day: 157 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 statistically significantly above the pre-pandemic housing crisis baseline. -- Courts (n) Count Percent northeast 245 26.0% central 208 22.0% southeast 108 11.4% eastern 98 10.4% western 91 9.6% metro_south 83 8.8% chelsea district 16 1.7% lynn district 13 1.4% quincy district 10 1.1% barnstable district 6 0.6% bmc east boston 5 0.5% fallmouth district 5 0.5% northern berkshire district 5 0.5% fall river district 4 0.4% woburn district 4 0.4% malden district 3 0.3% plymouth district 3 0.3% waltham district 3 0.3% westfield district 3 0.3% ayer district 2 0.2% brockton district 2 0.2% dedham district 2 0.2% gloucester district 2 0.2% haverhill district 2 0.2% lowell district 2 0.2% bmc charlestown 1 0.1% bmc dorchester 1 0.1% bmc roxbury 1 0.1% bmc south boston 1 0.1% clinton district 1 0.1% lawrence district 1 0.1% milford district 1 0.1% nantucket district 1 0.1% new bedford district 1 0.1% newburyport district 1 0.1% newton district 1 0.1% orange district 1 0.1% orleans district 1 0.1% peabody district 1 0.1% salem district 1 0.1% somerville district 1 0.1% taunton district 1 0.1% wareham district 1 0.1% wrentham district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 677 3 Natural Person 267 941 Total 944 944 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 71.7% 0.3% Natural Person 28.3% 99.7% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 662 15 677 Optional 143 124 267 Total 805 139 944 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 70.1% 1.6% 71.7% Optional 15.1% 13.1% 28.3% Total 85.3% 14.7% 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 3 3 Optional 13 928 941 Total 13 931 944 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.3% 0.3% Optional 1.4% 98.3% 99.7% Total 1.4% 98.6% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 41 4.3% 1 645 68.3% 2 201 21.3% 3 36 3.8% 4 14 1.5% 5 3 0.3% 6 3 0.3% 7 1 0.1% Total 944 100.0% 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 638 67.6% Unknown/Other 111 11.8% Cause 106 11.2% No Fault 84 8.9% Foreclosure 5 0.5% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Savoy 144 1 Marlborough 80 31 Charlemont 78 1 Warren 77 4 Rockland 74 13 Southbridge 65 11 Gardner 64 13 Athol 51 6 Chestnut Hill 47 1 North Oxford 44 1 Oxford 43 6 Feeding Hills 42 5 Northborough 42 6 Chelsea 39 14 South Easton 39 4 Fitchburg 37 15 Mashpee 35 5 New Bedford 34 33 Three Rivers 34 1 Framingham 32 22 Mattapan 32 12 Northfield 32 1 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Foxborough 29 5 Indian Orchard 29 3 North Adams 29 4 Sudbury 28 5 Worcester 27 50 Hyde Park 26 9 Newton Center 25 1 South Yarmouth 25 3 Stoughton 25 7 Leominster 24 10 Randolph 24 8 Springfield 24 37 Turners Falls 24 1 Adams 23 2 Kingston 23 3 Webster 23 4 Fall River 22 20 Saugus 22 6 South Grafton 22 1 Winthrop 22 4 Hadley 19 1 Hull 19 2 Lunenburg 19 2 Yarmouth Port 19 1 Hingham 18 4 Holbrook 18 2 Brockton 17 16 Dorchester 17 16 East Falmouth 17 1 Mendon 17 1 Lynn 16 15 Charlton 15 2 Dorchester Center 15 14 Franklin 15 5 Dalton 14 1 Hanover 14 2 Hyannis 14 2 Whitinsville 14 1 Ayer 13 1 Hopkinton 13 2 Lawrence 13 10 West Boylston 13 1 Lancaster 12 1 Middleborough 12 3 Orange 12 1 Douglas 11 1 East Weymouth 11 6 Revere 11 6 Brewster 10 1 North Attleborough 10 3 West Springfield 10 3 Attleborough 9 4 Lakeville 9 1 Leicester 9 1 Nantucket 9 1 Natick 9 3 Winchendon 9 1 Carver 8 1 Dedham 8 2 Dudley 8 1 Methuen 8 4 Palmer 8 1 Pepperell 8 1 Plymouth 8 5 Centerville 7 1 Clinton 7 1 Millbury 7 1 North Easton 7 1 Raynham 7 1 Seekonk 7 1 Swampscott 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Abington 6 1 Amesbury 6 1 Auburn 6 1 Bellingham 6 1 Easthampton 6 1 Fairhaven 6 1 Gloucester 6 2 Haverhill 6 4 Northbridge 6 1 Norwood 6 2 Quincy 6 6 Roxbury 6 4 Braintree 5 2 Charlestown 5 1 Greenfield 5 1 Holyoke 5 2 Malden 5 3 Marblehead 5 1 Medford 5 3 Newburyport 5 1 Peabody 5 3 Pembroke 5 1 Shrewsbury 5 2 Somerville 5 4 South Hadley 5 1 Taunton 5 3 Woburn 5 2 Brighton 4 2 E. Boston 4 2 East Boston 4 2 East Wareham 4 1 Lowell 4 5 Ludlow 4 1 Mansfield 4 1 Stoneham 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Westford 4 1 Wilmington 4 1 Winchester 4 1 Agawam 3 1 Andover 3 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Chicopee 3 2 Dracut 3 1 Marshfield 3 1 Milford 3 1 Milton 3 1 North Andover 3 1 Roslindale 3 1 West Roxbury 3 1 Amherst 2 1 Barnstable 2 1 Beverly 2 1 Boston 2 16 Everett 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 Pittsfield 2 1 Salem 2 1 South Boston 2 1 Brookline 1 1 Newton 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 (not given) 0 278 span 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 Worcester 132 147 Plymouth 129 56 Bristol 87 72 Barnstable 82 16 Hampden 78 56 Norfolk 57 49 Berkshire 55 9 Suffolk 54 107 Essex 47 52 Franklin 47 5 Middlesex 38 90 Nantucket 28 1 Hampshire 21 4 Dukes 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. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.