Filings Week Ending 2020 December 26

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2020-12-20 Search Period End: 2020-12-26 Earliest Case: 2020-12-21 Latest Case: 2020-12-26 Total Cases: 797 Total Transfers: 5 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 25.3% Of those, percentage pro se: 48.5% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: West Stockbridge Least stable with 10+ filings: Norwood Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Worcester Cases per day: 132 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 central 157 19.7% northeast 132 16.6% southeast 119 14.9% western 101 12.7% metro_south 93 11.7% eastern 62 7.8% somerville district 20 2.5% fall river district 11 1.4% malden district 10 1.3% cambridge district 9 1.1% quincy district 9 1.1% framingham district 8 1.0% woburn district 7 0.9% lynn district 6 0.8% waltham district 5 0.6% bmc east boston 4 0.5% northern berkshire district 4 0.5% pittsfield district 4 0.5% clinton district 3 0.4% dedham district 3 0.4% fallmouth district 3 0.4% lowell district 3 0.4% springfield district 3 0.4% wrentham district 3 0.4% bmc west roxbury 2 0.3% lawrence district 2 0.3% newburyport district 2 0.3% orleans district 2 0.3% barnstable district 1 0.1% bmc brighton 1 0.1% bmc roxbury 1 0.1% chelsea district 1 0.1% chicopee district 1 0.1% haverhill district 1 0.1% nantucket district 1 0.1% southern berkshire district 1 0.1% stoughton district 1 0.1% uxbridge district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 595 7 Natural Person 202 790 Total 797 797 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 74.7% 0.9% Natural Person 25.3% 99.1% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 587 8 595 Optional 104 98 202 Total 691 106 797 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 73.7% 1.0% 74.7% Optional 13.0% 12.3% 25.3% Total 86.7% 13.3% 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 7 7 Optional 9 781 790 Total 9 788 797 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.9% 0.9% Optional 1.1% 98.0% 99.1% Total 1.1% 98.9% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 47 5.9% 1 542 68.0% 2 181 22.7% 3 21 2.6% 4 4 0.5% 5 1 0.1% 7 1 0.1% Total 797 100.0% 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 564 70.8% Unknown/Other 133 16.7% No Fault 50 6.3% Cause 41 5.1% Foreclosure 9 1.1% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count West Stockbridge 153 2 Housatonic 132 1 Gilbertville 86 1 Richmond 67 1 Norwood 55 16 Fall River 54 48 Baldwinville 52 1 Gardner 44 9 North Oxford 44 1 Whitman 41 6 Framingham 39 27 Worcester 39 71 Westborough 38 7 Wellfleet 36 1 Webster 35 6 Fitchburg 34 14 Randolph 34 11 Blackstone 33 3 Buzzards Bay 29 1 New Bedford 29 28 Burlington 28 7 East Wareham 27 6 Westwood 27 4 Athol 25 3 Chelsea 25 9 Orange 25 2 Somerville 25 19 Plainville 24 2 Canton 23 5 Avon 22 1 Boylston 22 1 Hyannis 21 3 Mashpee 21 3 North Adams 21 3 Dorchester 20 19 East Freetown 20 1 Eastham 20 1 Marstons Mills 20 1 Ware 20 2 Quincy 19 18 Holbrook 18 2 West Yarmouth 18 1 Dover 17 1 East Falmouth 17 1 Hyde Park 17 6 Rockland 17 3 West Springfield 17 5 Winthrop 17 3 Braintree 16 6 Hopedale 16 1 Medfield 16 2 Springfield 16 26 Harvard 15 1 Clinton 14 2 Whitinsville 14 1 Cohasset 13 1 Malden 13 8 West Boylston 13 1 Boxford 12 1 East Longmeadow 12 2 North Grafton 12 1 Salisbury 12 1 Watertown 12 4 Williamstown 12 1 Assonet 11 1 Attleborough 11 5 Marshfield 11 3 Southbridge 11 2 Brockton 10 10 Cambridge 10 11 Needham 10 3 Acton 9 2 Indian Orchard 9 1 Lakeville 9 1 Nantucket 9 1 Revere 9 5 Westfield 9 4 Winchendon 9 1 Feeding Hills 8 1 Harwich 8 1 Mansfield 8 2 North Dartmouth 8 2 Pittsfield 8 4 Taunton 8 5 Tyngsborough 8 1 Bridgewater 7 2 Chicopee 7 4 Holliston 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Marlborough 7 3 Millbury 7 1 North Uxbridge 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Raynham 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Amesbury 6 1 Bellingham 6 1 Franklin 6 2 Lynn 6 6 North Attleborough 6 2 Charlestown 5 1 Hudson 5 1 Norton 5 1 Weymouth 5 3 East Boston 4 2 Ludlow 4 1 Middleborough 4 1 Stoneham 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Allston 3 1 Andover 3 1 Falmouth 3 1 Roslindale 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Brighton 2 1 E. Boston 2 1 Everett 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 Leominster 2 1 Mattapan 2 1 Methuen 2 1 Salem 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 South Dartmouth 2 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 East Weymouth 1 1 Lawrence 1 1 Lowell 1 2 Plymouth 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 213 Boston 0 6 span 0 3 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 119 133 Bristol 117 97 Norfolk 92 79 Plymouth 81 35 Berkshire 74 12 Barnstable 72 14 Hampden 61 44 Middlesex 38 90 Suffolk 29 59 Nantucket 28 1 Franklin 18 2 Essex 11 13 Hampshire 10 2 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/.