Filings Week Ending 2021 January 16

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-01-10 Search Period End: 2021-01-16 Earliest Case: 2021-01-11 Latest Case: 2021-01-16 Total Cases: 701 Total Transfers: 31 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 32.8% Of those, percentage pro se: 49.6% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: West Stockbridge Least stable with 10+ filings: Milford Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 116 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 northeast 138 19.7% central 131 18.7% western 117 16.7% eastern 96 13.7% southeast 95 13.6% metro_south 56 8.0% quincy district 13 1.9% lowell district 9 1.3% lynn district 8 1.1% orleans district 4 0.6% fallmouth district 3 0.4% plymouth district 3 0.4% brockton district 2 0.3% lawrence district 2 0.3% malden district 2 0.3% northern berkshire district 2 0.3% pittsfield district 2 0.3% southern berkshire district 2 0.3% wareham district 2 0.3% ayer district 1 0.1% barnstable district 1 0.1% bmc brighton 1 0.1% bmc charlestown 1 0.1% bmc east boston 1 0.1% clinton district 1 0.1% fall river district 1 0.1% framingham district 1 0.1% greenfield district 1 0.1% milford district 1 0.1% peabody district 1 0.1% stoughton district 1 0.1% westfield district 1 0.1% worcester district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 471 0 Natural Person 230 701 Total 701 701 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 67.2% 0.0% Natural Person 32.8% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 444 27 471 Optional 116 114 230 Total 560 141 701 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 63.3% 3.9% 67.2% Optional 16.5% 16.3% 32.8% Total 79.9% 20.1% 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 11 690 701 Total 11 690 701 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Optional 1.6% 98.4% 100.0% Total 1.6% 98.4% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 54 7.7% 1 496 70.8% 2 122 17.4% 3 14 2.0% 4 8 1.1% 5 4 0.6% 6 3 0.4% Total 701 100.0% 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 480 68.5% No Fault 78 11.1% Cause 72 10.3% Unknown/Other 68 9.7% Foreclosure 3 0.4% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count West Stockbridge 76 1 Lunenburg 69 7 Dennis Port 63 2 East Falmouth 51 3 South Deerfield 48 1 Hyannis 42 6 Milford 35 10 Provincetown 33 1 Fiskdale 32 1 New Bedford 32 31 Southbridge 29 5 East Sandwich 28 1 Marlborough 28 11 South Dennis 27 1 Newton Center 25 1 Worcester 25 46 Framingham 24 17 Clinton 22 3 Bourne 20 4 Fall River 19 17 Lenox 19 1 Leominster 19 8 Winchendon 19 2 Wareham 18 4 Taunton 17 10 Lee 16 1 Orleans 16 1 Gardner 14 3 Whitinsville 14 1 Ayer 13 1 Fairhaven 12 2 Fitchburg 12 5 Middleborough 12 3 Adams 11 1 Webster 11 2 Winthrop 11 2 Brewster 10 1 Quincy 10 10 Southborough 10 1 Westborough 10 2 Leicester 9 1 Nantucket 9 1 Braintree 8 3 Brockton 8 8 Dudley 8 1 Lowell 8 9 Lynn 8 8 East Boston 7 3 East Bridgewater 7 1 Holliston 7 1 Millbury 7 1 North Adams 7 1 North Easton 7 1 Seekonk 7 1 West Newton 7 1 Ashland 6 1 Bellingham 6 1 Westport 6 1 Greenfield 5 1 Hudson 5 1 Plymouth 5 3 Roxbury 5 3 Somerset 5 1 Sudbury 5 1 Attleborough 4 2 Belmont 4 1 Canton 4 1 Dorchester 4 4 East Wareham 4 1 Hingham 4 1 Methuen 4 2 Onset 4 1 Pittsfield 4 2 Falmouth 3 1 Marshfield 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Stoughton 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Beverly 2 1 Dartmouth 2 1 E. Boston 2 1 Everett 2 1 Mattapan 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 South Dartmouth 2 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 Malden 1 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 Peabody 1 1 Somerville 1 1 (not given) 0 385 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 Barnstable 108 21 Worcester 89 100 Bristol 83 69 Plymouth 53 23 Berkshire 43 7 Nantucket 28 1 Middlesex 21 50 Franklin 18 2 Norfolk 18 16 Essex 10 12 Suffolk 7 15 Dukes 0 0 Hampden 0 0 Hampshire 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/.