Filings Week Ending 2021 June 12

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-06-06 Search Period End: 2021-06-12 Earliest Case: 2021-06-07 Latest Case: 2021-06-11 Total Cases: 378 Total Transfers: 9 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 47.4% Of those, percentage pro se: 54.7% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Bellingham Least stable with 10+ filings: Fall River Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 63 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 63 16.7% eastern 62 16.4% central 57 15.1% southeast 50 13.2% western 46 12.2% metro_south 39 10.3% chelsea district 8 2.1% lynn district 8 2.1% springfield district 5 1.3% cambridge district 4 1.1% lowell district 4 1.1% bmc west roxbury 3 0.8% haverhill district 3 0.8% malden district 3 0.8% pittsfield district 3 0.8% quincy district 3 0.8% fall river district 2 0.5% waltham district 2 0.5% attleboro district 1 0.3% barnstable district 1 0.3% bmc roxbury 1 0.3% dedham district 1 0.3% fallmouth district 1 0.3% framingham district 1 0.3% lawrence district 1 0.3% leominster district 1 0.3% nantucket district 1 0.3% northern berkshire district 1 0.3% peabody district 1 0.3% salem district 1 0.3% wrentham district 1 0.3% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 199 0 Natural Person 179 378 Total 378 378 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 52.6% 0.0% Natural Person 47.4% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 189 10 199 Optional 81 98 179 Total 270 108 378 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 50.0% 2.6% 52.6% Optional 21.4% 25.9% 47.4% Total 71.4% 28.6% 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 7 371 378 Total 7 371 378 (%) 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 38 10.1% 1 246 65.1% 2 69 18.3% 3 21 5.6% 4 3 0.8% 9 1 0.3% Total 378 100.0% 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 205 54.2% Cause 94 24.9% No Fault 78 20.6% Foreclosure 1 0.3% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Bellingham 55 9 East Falmouth 34 2 Fiskdale 32 1 Raynham 22 3 Eastham 20 1 Marstons Mills 20 1 Chelsea 19 7 Barre 18 1 Fitchburg 17 7 Webster 17 3 Fall River 15 14 Groveland 15 1 Brockton 14 14 Hyannis 14 2 Ayer 13 1 Lowell 13 14 Mattapan 13 5 Roslindale 13 4 Worcester 13 25 Belmont 12 3 Marlborough 12 5 Orange 12 1 Randolph 12 4 Assonet 11 1 New Bedford 11 11 Winthrop 11 2 Bourne 10 2 Dorchester 9 9 Hingham 9 2 Hull 9 1 Leicester 9 1 Leominster 9 4 Revere 9 5 South Easton 9 1 Wrentham 9 1 Cambridge 8 9 Haverhill 8 5 Lynn 8 8 Mansfield 8 2 Medford 8 5 South Yarmouth 8 1 Tyngsborough 8 1 Wakefield 8 2 Arlington 7 3 Bridgewater 7 2 Danvers 7 2 East Boston 7 3 Lawrence 7 6 Northborough 7 1 Swampscott 7 1 Weymouth 7 4 Amesbury 6 1 Ashland 6 1 Natick 6 2 Westport 6 1 Westwood 6 1 Beverly 5 2 Brookline 5 3 Charlestown 5 1 Dorchester Center 5 5 Foxborough 5 1 Rockland 5 1 South Boston 5 2 Southbridge 5 1 Attleborough 4 2 Framingham 4 3 Gardner 4 1 Methuen 4 2 Middleborough 4 1 Onset 4 1 Pittsfield 4 2 Quincy 4 4 Salem 4 2 Allston 3 1 Andover 3 1 Dracut 3 1 Falmouth 3 1 Milford 3 1 Milton 3 1 North Andover 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Roxbury Crossing 3 2 Saugus 3 1 Springfield 3 5 Stoughton 3 1 Taunton 3 2 Watertown 3 1 Wellesley 3 1 Chelmsford 2 1 Everett 2 1 Newton 1 1 Peabody 1 1 Plymouth 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 82 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 Plymouth 53 23 Barnstable 51 10 Bristol 46 38 Worcester 41 46 Norfolk 35 30 Essex 30 34 Suffolk 26 52 Middlesex 23 55 Berkshire 12 2 Franklin 9 1 Hampden 7 5 Dukes 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/.