Filings Week Ending 2021 October 23

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-10-17 Search Period End: 2021-10-23 Earliest Case: 2021-10-18 Latest Case: 2021-10-22 Total Cases: 509 Total Transfers: 22 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 31.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 47.8% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Ayer Least stable with 10+ filings: Ayer Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Bristol Cases per day: 84 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 123 24.2% western 82 16.1% central 78 15.3% southeast 75 14.7% metro_south 59 11.6% eastern 45 8.8% quincy district 9 1.8% attleboro district 5 1.0% fall river district 4 0.8% pittsfield district 3 0.6% brockton district 2 0.4% fallmouth district 2 0.4% lowell district 2 0.4% malden district 2 0.4% newburyport district 2 0.4% springfield district 2 0.4% barnstable district 1 0.2% bmc west roxbury 1 0.2% cambridge district 1 0.2% eastern hampshire district 1 0.2% framingham district 1 0.2% lynn district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% northern berkshire district 1 0.2% orleans district 1 0.2% peabody district 1 0.2% somerville district 1 0.2% stoughton district 1 0.2% westfield district 1 0.2% woburn district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 350 2 Natural Person 159 507 Total 509 509 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 68.8% 0.4% Natural Person 31.2% 99.6% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 335 15 350 Optional 83 76 159 Total 418 91 509 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 65.8% 2.9% 68.8% Optional 16.3% 14.9% 31.2% Total 82.1% 17.9% 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 13 494 507 Total 13 496 509 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.4% 0.4% Optional 2.6% 97.1% 99.6% Total 2.6% 97.4% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 31 6.1% 1 357 70.1% 2 100 19.6% 3 16 3.1% 4 5 1.0% Total 509 100.0% 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 268 52.7% Cause 126 24.8% No Fault 113 22.2% Foreclosure 2 0.4% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Ayer 161 12 South Dennis 54 2 Stockbridge 51 1 Ware 50 5 Huntington 45 1 North Oxford 44 1 Norwood 34 10 Dennis Port 31 1 Lawrence 31 24 Hatfield 30 1 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Fall River 28 25 Jefferson 28 1 New Bedford 26 25 Athol 25 3 Adams 23 2 West Newbury 23 1 Braintree 22 8 Clinton 22 3 North Adams 21 3 Belchertown 20 3 South Easton 19 2 Springfield 19 30 Yarmouth Port 19 1 Lowell 18 20 East Falmouth 17 1 Fitchburg 17 7 Milford 17 5 Revere 17 9 Sharon 17 3 Quincy 16 15 Taunton 16 9 Bridgewater 15 4 East Taunton 15 1 Groveland 15 1 Holyoke 15 6 Marlborough 15 6 Millbury 15 2 Chicopee 14 8 Great Barrington 14 1 Whitinsville 14 1 Worcester 14 27 Pittsfield 13 6 West Boylston 13 1 Westwood 13 2 Whitman 13 2 Orange 12 1 Plainville 12 1 Salisbury 12 1 Blackstone 11 1 Chelsea 11 4 Foxborough 11 2 Sutton 11 1 Webster 11 2 Brockton 10 10 Jamaica Plain 10 4 Andover 9 3 Canton 9 2 Gardner 9 2 Haverhill 9 6 Indian Orchard 9 1 North Billerica 9 1 Randolph 9 3 Carver 8 1 Dedham 8 2 Mansfield 8 2 Plymouth 8 5 Spencer 8 1 Wakefield 8 2 East Boston 7 3 Hyannis 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Leominster 7 3 Mashpee 7 1 Northborough 7 1 Stoughton 7 2 Attleborough 6 3 Auburn 6 1 Dorchester 6 6 Easthampton 6 1 Northbridge 6 1 Roxbury 6 4 Chelmsford 5 2 Framingham 5 4 Holden 5 1 Hudson 5 1 Rockland 5 1 Shrewsbury 5 2 Southbridge 5 1 Winthrop 5 1 Woburn 5 2 Belmont 4 1 Hingham 4 1 Methuen 4 2 Westfield 4 2 Dracut 3 1 Lynn 3 3 Marshfield 3 1 Medford 3 2 North Andover 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Peabody 3 2 Roslindale 3 1 Saugus 3 1 Tewksbury 3 1 West Roxbury 3 1 West Springfield 3 1 Weymouth 3 2 Beverly 2 1 Billerica 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Mattapan 2 1 South Boston 2 1 Cambridge 1 2 Dorchester Center 1 1 East Weymouth 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 Somerville 1 1 South Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 65 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 Bristol 82 68 Berkshire 80 13 Hampden 67 48 Norfolk 63 54 Worcester 61 68 Plymouth 60 26 Hampshire 59 11 Barnstable 41 8 Essex 41 46 Middlesex 25 59 Suffolk 21 42 Franklin 9 1 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/.

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