Filings Week Ending 2021 July 31

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-07-25 Search Period End: 2021-07-31 Earliest Case: 2021-07-26 Latest Case: 2021-07-31 Total Cases: 340 Total Transfers: 11 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 36.5% Of those, percentage pro se: 44.4% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Goshen Least stable with 10+ filings: Holyoke Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Hampden Cases per day: 56 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 western 97 28.5% northeast 63 18.5% southeast 46 13.5% central 35 10.3% eastern 29 8.5% metro_south 26 7.6% quincy district 10 2.9% brockton district 4 1.2% chelsea district 3 0.9% lowell district 3 0.9% lynn district 3 0.9% taunton district 3 0.9% ayer district 2 0.6% dedham district 2 0.6% pittsfield district 2 0.6% wareham district 2 0.6% attleboro district 1 0.3% cambridge district 1 0.3% clinton district 1 0.3% fall river district 1 0.3% hingham district 1 0.3% northern berkshire district 1 0.3% somerville district 1 0.3% springfield district 1 0.3% waltham district 1 0.3% westfield district 1 0.3% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 216 1 Natural Person 124 339 Total 340 340 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 63.5% 0.3% Natural Person 36.5% 99.7% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 203 13 216 Optional 69 55 124 Total 272 68 340 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 59.7% 3.8% 63.5% Optional 20.3% 16.2% 36.5% Total 80.0% 20.0% 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 1 1 Optional 4 335 339 Total 4 336 340 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.3% 0.3% Optional 1.2% 98.5% 99.7% Total 1.2% 98.8% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 24 7.1% 1 239 70.3% 2 56 16.5% 3 13 3.8% 4 7 2.1% 5 1 0.3% Total 340 100.0% 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 220 64.7% Cause 72 21.2% No Fault 46 13.5% Foreclosure 2 0.6% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Goshen 94 1 Abington 37 6 Holyoke 30 12 Sheffield 30 1 East Sandwich 28 1 Sagamore 27 1 Sunderland 27 1 Springfield 24 37 Adams 23 2 Avon 22 1 Ipswich 22 3 Fall River 20 18 Haverhill 19 12 South Yarmouth 17 2 Spencer 17 2 Chatham 16 1 Everett 16 7 Berkley 15 1 Clinton 14 2 Milford 14 4 North Adams 14 2 Brockton 13 13 North Reading 13 2 Roslindale 13 4 West Boylston 13 1 Mansfield 12 3 Middleborough 12 3 Orange 12 1 Bridgewater 11 3 Chelsea 11 4 Greenfield 11 2 Lowell 11 12 Manchaug 11 1 Townsend 11 1 Bourne 10 2 Chicopee 10 6 North Andover 10 3 Quincy 10 10 West Springfield 10 3 Gardner 9 2 Hull 9 1 Indian Orchard 9 1 Watertown 9 3 Feeding Hills 8 1 Harwich 8 1 New Bedford 8 8 Pepperell 8 1 Reading 8 2 Lynn 7 7 Marlborough 7 3 Oxford 7 1 Revere 7 4 Swampscott 7 1 Auburn 6 1 Easthampton 6 1 Fairhaven 6 1 Longmeadow 6 1 Methuen 6 3 Norwood 6 2 Pittsfield 6 3 Swansea 6 1 Westport 6 1 Worcester 6 12 Braintree 5 2 Dorchester Center 5 5 Rockland 5 1 South Hadley 5 1 Winthrop 5 1 Attleborough 4 2 Billerica 4 2 Burlington 4 1 Dedham 4 1 Framingham 4 3 Onset 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Westfield 4 2 Dracut 3 1 Melrose 3 1 Milton 3 1 Natick 3 1 Northampton 3 1 Randolph 3 1 Saugus 3 1 South Weymouth 3 2 Taunton 3 2 Waltham 3 2 Arlington 2 1 Beverly 2 1 East Boston 2 1 Fitchburg 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Lawrence 2 2 Leominster 2 1 Mattapan 2 1 Salem 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 Cambridge 1 2 Dorchester 1 1 Malden 1 1 Medford 1 1 Peabody 1 1 Plymouth 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 Somerville 1 1 (not given) 0 26 Boston 0 4 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 Hampden 88 63 Plymouth 69 30 Berkshire 49 8 Bristol 44 37 Barnstable 41 8 Franklin 37 4 Essex 31 35 Worcester 26 29 Norfolk 23 20 Hampshire 21 4 Middlesex 20 48 Suffolk 14 28 Dukes 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/.