Filings Week Ending 2021 August 14

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-08-08 Search Period End: 2021-08-14 Earliest Case: 2021-08-09 Latest Case: 2021-08-14 Total Cases: 475 Total Transfers: 11 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 43.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 47.3% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Royalston Least stable with 10+ filings: Fitchburg Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 79 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 91 19.2% northeast 78 16.4% western 78 16.4% southeast 65 13.7% eastern 62 13.1% metro_south 27 5.7% fall river district 8 1.7% cambridge district 7 1.5% quincy district 6 1.3% plymouth district 5 1.1% barnstable district 4 0.8% malden district 4 0.8% springfield district 4 0.8% lynn district 3 0.6% newburyport district 3 0.6% chelsea district 2 0.4% fallmouth district 2 0.4% lowell district 2 0.4% northern berkshire district 2 0.4% somerville district 2 0.4% attleboro district 1 0.2% ayer district 1 0.2% bmc east boston 1 0.2% bmc south boston 1 0.2% brookline district 1 0.2% haverhill district 1 0.2% hingham district 1 0.2% lawrence district 1 0.2% new bedford district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% palmer district 1 0.2% pittsfield district 1 0.2% salem district 1 0.2% southern berkshire district 1 0.2% stoughton district 1 0.2% taunton district 1 0.2% waltham district 1 0.2% wareham district 1 0.2% westfield district 1 0.2% wrentham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 270 2 Natural Person 205 473 Total 475 475 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 56.8% 0.4% Natural Person 43.2% 99.6% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 264 6 270 Optional 108 97 205 Total 372 103 475 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 55.6% 1.3% 56.8% Optional 22.7% 20.4% 43.2% Total 78.3% 21.7% 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 2 2 Optional 7 466 473 Total 7 468 475 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.4% 0.4% Optional 1.5% 98.1% 99.6% Total 1.5% 98.5% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 41 8.6% 1 321 67.6% 2 79 16.6% 3 23 4.8% 4 6 1.3% 5 3 0.6% 6 1 0.2% 12 1 0.2% Total 475 100.0% 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 217 45.7% No Fault 133 28.0% Cause 123 25.9% Foreclosure 2 0.4% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Royalston 79 1 Teaticket 58 1 Boylston 45 2 Forestdale 45 2 Barre 37 2 Pocasset 34 1 Fitchburg 32 13 Sagamore Beach 27 1 Norton 26 5 South Yarmouth 25 3 Salisbury 24 2 Worcester 24 44 New Bedford 23 22 North Chelmsford 21 2 Eastham 20 1 Marion 20 1 South Easton 19 2 Warren 19 1 Yarmouth Port 19 1 Fall River 18 16 Chelsea 17 6 Spencer 17 2 Lawrence 15 12 Stow 15 1 Arlington 14 6 Everett 14 6 Gardner 14 3 Hyannis 14 2 North Adams 14 2 Northborough 14 2 West Bridgewater 14 1 Whitinsville 14 1 Ayer 13 1 Cohasset 13 1 Hingham 13 3 Lynn 13 12 Andover 12 4 Millis 12 1 Waban 12 1 Bridgewater 11 3 Brockton 11 11 Haverhill 11 7 Saugus 11 3 Southbridge 11 2 Sutton 11 1 Allston 10 3 Lowell 10 11 Marblehead 10 2 Marlborough 10 4 Methuen 10 5 Taunton 10 6 Dorchester 9 9 Holbrook 9 1 Indian Orchard 9 1 Lakeville 9 1 Leicester 9 1 Lunenburg 9 1 North Billerica 9 1 Norwell 9 1 Randolph 9 3 Braintree 8 3 Brookline 8 5 Jamaica Plain 8 3 Malden 8 5 Plymouth 8 5 Clinton 7 1 East Bridgewater 7 1 Holliston 7 1 Mashpee 7 1 Peabody 7 4 Raynham 7 1 Swampscott 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Amesbury 6 1 Roslindale 6 2 Westport 6 1 Beverly 5 2 Charlestown 5 1 Framingham 5 4 Mattapan 5 2 Newburyport 5 1 Quincy 5 5 Revere 5 3 Rockland 5 1 Webster 5 1 Winthrop 5 1 Belmont 4 1 Cambridge 4 5 Mansfield 4 1 Middleborough 4 1 North Dartmouth 4 1 Salem 4 2 Walpole 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Wilmington 4 1 Danvers 3 1 Dorchester Center 3 3 Dracut 3 1 Falmouth 3 1 Franklin 3 1 Lexington 3 1 Medford 3 2 Milford 3 1 Natick 3 1 Needham Heights 3 1 Roxbury 3 2 Somerville 3 3 Stoughton 3 1 Tewksbury 3 1 Waltham 3 2 Wellesley 3 1 West Roxbury 3 1 Attleborough 2 1 Billerica 2 1 East Boston 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Leominster 2 1 Pittsfield 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Boston 1 12 Chicopee 1 1 East Weymouth 1 1 Newton 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 Springfield 1 3 (not given) 0 86 span 0 1 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 72 14 Worcester 72 81 Plymouth 69 30 Bristol 68 56 Essex 53 59 Norfolk 29 25 Middlesex 27 63 Suffolk 25 51 Berkshire 18 3 Hampden 8 6 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/.