Filings Week Ending 2021 September 18

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-09-12 Search Period End: 2021-09-18 Earliest Case: 2021-09-13 Latest Case: 2021-09-17 Total Cases: 536 Total Transfers: 13 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 40.5% Of those, percentage pro se: 60.8% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Chestnut Hill Least stable with 10+ filings: New Bedford Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Bristol Cases per day: 89 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 119 22.2% northeast 96 17.9% southeast 95 17.7% eastern 72 13.4% western 63 11.8% metro_south 29 5.4% lynn district 13 2.4% pittsfield district 8 1.5% chelsea district 6 1.1% barnstable district 5 0.9% quincy district 5 0.9% waltham district 4 0.7% northern berkshire district 3 0.6% brockton district 2 0.4% haverhill district 2 0.4% lowell district 2 0.4% malden district 2 0.4% milford district 2 0.4% attleboro district 1 0.2% bmc east boston 1 0.2% dedham district 1 0.2% eastern hampshire district 1 0.2% new bedford district 1 0.2% newburyport district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% palmer district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 319 0 Natural Person 217 536 Total 536 536 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 59.5% 0.0% Natural Person 40.5% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 311 8 319 Optional 85 132 217 Total 396 140 536 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 58.0% 1.5% 59.5% Optional 15.9% 24.6% 40.5% Total 73.9% 26.1% 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 9 527 536 Total 9 527 536 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Optional 1.7% 98.3% 100.0% Total 1.7% 98.3% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 43 8.0% 1 366 68.3% 2 95 17.7% 3 18 3.4% 4 8 1.5% 5 4 0.7% 7 1 0.2% 8 1 0.2% Total 536 100.0% 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 277 51.7% No Fault 147 27.4% Cause 109 20.3% Foreclosure 3 0.6% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Chestnut Hill 94 2 Hardwick 66 2 Phillipston 59 1 Whitinsville 57 4 West Yarmouth 56 3 Oakham 52 1 Newtonville 38 2 New Bedford 35 34 Fall River 32 29 Cotuit 30 1 Lunenburg 29 3 Hyannis 28 4 Worcester 27 50 Tyngsborough 26 3 Athol 25 3 Newton Center 25 1 Marlborough 23 9 South Grafton 22 1 Marstons Mills 20 1 Pittsfield 20 9 Southborough 20 2 Gardner 19 4 South Easton 19 2 East Falmouth 17 1 Hyde Park 17 6 Lawrence 17 13 Mattapan 16 6 Mattapoisett 16 1 North Easton 15 2 Centerville 14 2 Chelsea 14 5 Lynn 14 13 North Adams 14 2 Uxbridge 14 2 Allston 13 4 Ashland 12 2 Lancaster 12 1 Lowell 12 13 Northbridge 12 2 Adams 11 1 Dorchester 11 11 Framingham 11 8 Quincy 11 11 Shrewsbury 11 4 Southbridge 11 2 Townsend 11 1 Webster 11 2 Brockton 10 10 Fayville 10 1 Hudson 10 2 North Chelmsford 10 1 Taunton 10 6 Ware 10 1 Andover 9 3 Haverhill 9 6 Hingham 9 2 Leicester 9 1 Leominster 9 4 Nantucket 9 1 Randolph 9 3 Revere 9 5 Winchendon 9 1 Wrentham 9 1 Jamaica Plain 8 3 Charlton 7 1 Clinton 7 1 Fitchburg 7 3 Mashpee 7 1 Milford 7 2 Millbury 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Stoughton 7 2 Wilbraham 7 1 Abington 6 1 Amesbury 6 1 Dracut 6 2 Methuen 6 3 Waltham 6 4 Charlestown 5 1 Dorchester Center 5 5 Pembroke 5 1 Plymouth 5 3 Roxbury 5 3 South Boston 5 2 Acton 4 1 Attleborough 4 2 Billerica 4 2 Canton 4 1 East Boston 4 2 East Wareham 4 1 Everett 4 2 Mansfield 4 1 Middleborough 4 1 Walpole 4 1 Cambridge 3 4 East Weymouth 3 2 Falmouth 3 1 Franklin 3 1 Norwood 3 1 Roslindale 3 1 Somerville 3 3 West Roxbury 3 1 E. Boston 2 1 Boston 1 10 South Weymouth 1 1 Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 119 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 Bristol 92 76 Worcester 89 100 Berkshire 74 12 Barnstable 72 14 Plymouth 46 20 Essex 35 39 Suffolk 33 66 Norfolk 31 27 Nantucket 28 1 Middlesex 25 60 Hampshire 5 1 Hampden 1 1 Dukes 0 0 Franklin 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/.