Filings Week Ending 2021 May 01

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-04-25 Search Period End: 2021-05-01 Earliest Case: 2021-04-26 Latest Case: 2021-04-30 Total Cases: 268 Total Transfers: 7 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 28.0% Of those, percentage pro se: 53.3% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Randolph Least stable with 10+ filings: Randolph Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 44 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 southeast 47 17.5% central 41 15.3% metro_south 40 14.9% western 38 14.2% northeast 37 13.8% eastern 32 11.9% brockton district 4 1.5% peabody district 4 1.5% bmc east boston 3 1.1% orleans district 3 1.1% pittsfield district 3 1.1% chelsea district 2 0.7% fallmouth district 2 0.7% malden district 2 0.7% ayer district 1 0.4% barnstable district 1 0.4% bmc brighton 1 0.4% bmc roxbury 1 0.4% bmc west roxbury 1 0.4% dedham district 1 0.4% framingham district 1 0.4% northern berkshire district 1 0.4% palmer district 1 0.4% woburn district 1 0.4% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 193 0 Natural Person 75 268 Total 268 268 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 72.0% 0.0% Natural Person 28.0% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 189 4 193 Optional 35 40 75 Total 224 44 268 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 70.5% 1.5% 72.0% Optional 13.1% 14.9% 28.0% Total 83.6% 16.4% 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 5 263 268 Total 5 263 268 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Optional 1.9% 98.1% 100.0% Total 1.9% 98.1% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 20 7.5% 1 192 71.6% 2 45 16.8% 3 10 3.7% 5 1 0.4% Total 268 100.0% 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 191 71.3% No Fault 31 11.6% Cause 30 11.2% Unknown/Other 15 5.6% Foreclosure 1 0.4% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Randolph 84 27 East Sandwich 57 2 Bondsville 53 1 Dennis Port 31 1 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Newton Center 25 1 Fall River 21 19 Hyannis 21 3 Newtonville 19 1 Marlborough 15 6 Fitchburg 14 6 New Bedford 13 13 Roslindale 13 4 Georgetown 12 1 Mansfield 12 3 Adams 11 1 Framingham 11 8 Southbridge 11 2 Townsend 11 1 Winthrop 11 2 Hudson 10 2 Nantucket 9 1 Athol 8 1 Braintree 8 3 Dedham 8 2 Haverhill 8 5 South Yarmouth 8 1 Tyngsborough 8 1 West Harwich 8 1 Brockton 7 7 Clinton 7 1 North Adams 7 1 Amesbury 6 1 Dorchester 6 6 Fairhaven 6 1 Franklin 6 2 Lawrence 6 5 Pittsfield 6 3 West Roxbury 6 2 Westport 6 1 Worcester 6 12 Jamaica Plain 5 2 Newburyport 5 1 Revere 5 3 Somerset 5 1 Sudbury 5 1 Webster 5 1 Westborough 5 1 Canton 4 1 Dorchester Center 4 4 Lowell 4 5 Methuen 4 2 North Dartmouth 4 1 Stoneham 4 1 Andover 3 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Falmouth 3 1 Natick 3 1 North Andover 3 1 Tewksbury 3 1 Wellesley 3 1 Attleborough 2 1 Brighton 2 1 Chelsea 2 1 East Boston 2 1 Everett 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Mattapan 2 1 South Boston 2 1 Lynn 1 1 Malden 1 1 Newton 1 1 Plymouth 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 56 Boston 0 5 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 51 10 Bristol 48 40 Norfolk 43 37 Berkshire 30 5 Nantucket 28 1 Worcester 21 24 Plymouth 20 9 Suffolk 17 35 Essex 16 18 Middlesex 13 32 Hampden 1 1 Dukes 0 0 Franklin 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/.