Filings Week Ending 2021 May 29

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-05-23 Search Period End: 2021-05-29 Earliest Case: 2021-05-24 Latest Case: 2021-05-28 Total Cases: 342 Total Transfers: 7 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 30.4% Of those, percentage pro se: 40.4% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: West Hyannisport Least stable with 10+ filings: Oxford Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 57 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 61 17.8% southeast 61 17.8% northeast 54 15.8% metro_south 51 14.9% western 42 12.3% eastern 28 8.2% cambridge district 6 1.8% chelsea district 6 1.8% malden district 5 1.5% newburyport district 5 1.5% bmc west roxbury 3 0.9% quincy district 3 0.9% hingham district 2 0.6% lowell district 2 0.6% nantucket district 2 0.6% ayer district 1 0.3% concord district 1 0.3% dedham district 1 0.3% fall river district 1 0.3% haverhill district 1 0.3% northern berkshire district 1 0.3% orleans district 1 0.3% pittsfield district 1 0.3% plymouth district 1 0.3% springfield district 1 0.3% woburn district 1 0.3% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 238 3 Natural Person 104 339 Total 342 342 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 69.6% 0.9% Natural Person 30.4% 99.1% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 233 5 238 Optional 62 42 104 Total 295 47 342 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 68.1% 1.5% 69.6% Optional 18.1% 12.3% 30.4% Total 86.3% 13.7% 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 6 333 339 Total 6 336 342 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.9% 0.9% Optional 1.8% 97.4% 99.1% Total 1.8% 98.2% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 19 5.6% 1 232 67.8% 2 67 19.6% 3 18 5.3% 4 4 1.2% 5 2 0.6% Total 342 100.0% 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 222 64.9% Cause 72 21.1% No Fault 46 13.5% Foreclosure 2 0.6% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count West Hyannisport 555 1 Oxford 94 13 Amesbury 55 9 Baldwinville 52 1 Millis 50 4 South Easton 48 5 Chestnut Hill 47 1 West Yarmouth 37 2 Fiskdale 32 1 West Bridgewater 28 2 South Dennis 27 1 Norwood 24 7 Hyannis 21 3 Allston 20 6 Boxborough 20 1 East Freetown 20 1 Hanson 19 2 Hull 19 2 Winchendon 19 2 Yarmouth Port 19 1 Dedham 16 4 East Taunton 15 1 Norton 15 3 Randolph 15 5 Framingham 14 10 Mashpee 14 2 Milford 14 4 Uxbridge 14 2 Ayer 13 1 Tewksbury 13 4 Georgetown 12 1 Rutland 12 1 Salisbury 12 1 Blackstone 11 1 Braintree 11 4 Chelsea 11 4 Fall River 11 10 Webster 11 2 Roslindale 10 3 Everett 9 4 Carver 8 1 Haverhill 8 5 Methuen 8 4 New Bedford 8 8 Taunton 8 5 Bedford 7 1 Charlton 7 1 Dennis 7 1 Dorchester 7 7 East Boston 7 3 Fitchburg 7 3 Leominster 7 3 Revere 7 4 Seekonk 7 1 Stoughton 7 2 Abington 6 1 Attleborough 6 3 Bellingham 6 1 Brockton 6 6 Natick 6 2 North Attleborough 6 2 Whitman 6 1 Cambridge 5 6 Foxborough 5 1 Hudson 5 1 Lawrence 5 4 Lowell 5 6 Plymouth 5 3 Sharon 5 1 Southbridge 5 1 Westborough 5 1 Worcester 5 10 Brighton 4 2 Canton 4 1 Gardner 4 1 Mansfield 4 1 Middleborough 4 1 Onset 4 1 Quincy 4 4 Wareham 4 1 Westford 4 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Malden 3 2 Marshfield 3 1 Milton 3 1 Needham 3 1 North Andover 3 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Marlborough 2 1 Mattapan 2 1 Pittsfield 2 1 Somerville 2 2 Dorchester Center 1 1 South Weymouth 1 1 Springfield 1 3 (not given) 0 78 Boston 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 Barnstable 56 11 Plymouth 53 23 Bristol 48 40 Norfolk 44 38 Worcester 42 47 Essex 22 25 Middlesex 18 42 Suffolk 17 34 Berkshire 6 1 Hampden 4 3 Dukes 0 0 Franklin 0 0 Hampshire 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. 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/.