Filings Week Ending 2021 December 25

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-12-19 Search Period End: 2021-12-25 Earliest Case: 2021-12-20 Latest Case: 2021-12-24 Total Cases: 429 Total Transfers: 17 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 30.1% Of those, percentage pro se: 45.0% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: North Falmouth Least stable with 10+ filings: New Bedford Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 71 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 76 17.7% eastern 67 15.6% central 64 14.9% southeast 62 14.5% western 54 12.6% metro_south 41 9.6% quincy district 12 2.8% malden district 7 1.6% attleboro district 4 0.9% brockton district 4 0.9% holyoke district 3 0.7% palmer district 3 0.7% waltham district 3 0.7% barnstable district 2 0.5% fallmouth district 2 0.5% haverhill district 2 0.5% lawrence district 2 0.5% lowell district 2 0.5% lynn district 2 0.5% new bedford district 2 0.5% wareham district 2 0.5% ayer district 1 0.2% bmc brighton 1 0.2% bmc east boston 1 0.2% bmc west roxbury 1 0.2% chelsea district 1 0.2% chicopee district 1 0.2% concord district 1 0.2% northern berkshire district 1 0.2% salem district 1 0.2% somerville district 1 0.2% southern berkshire district 1 0.2% springfield district 1 0.2% wrentham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 300 3 Natural Person 129 426 Total 429 429 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 69.9% 0.7% Natural Person 30.1% 99.3% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 279 21 300 Optional 71 58 129 Total 350 79 429 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 65.0% 4.9% 69.9% Optional 16.6% 13.5% 30.1% Total 81.6% 18.4% 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 3 3 Optional 7 419 426 Total 7 422 429 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.7% 0.7% Optional 1.6% 97.7% 99.3% Total 1.6% 98.4% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 39 9.1% 1 291 67.8% 2 80 18.6% 3 15 3.5% 4 3 0.7% 5 1 0.2% Total 429 100.0% 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 265 61.8% No Fault 87 20.3% Cause 69 16.1% Foreclosure 7 1.6% Unknown/Other 1 0.2% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count North Falmouth 37 1 East Falmouth 34 2 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Gardner 29 6 Abington 25 4 Braintree 25 9 Middleborough 25 6 South Yarmouth 25 3 Plainville 24 2 New Bedford 23 22 Quincy 23 22 Webster 23 4 Clinton 22 3 Fitchburg 22 9 Hyannis 21 3 North Dartmouth 21 5 Marstons Mills 20 1 Warren 19 1 Acton 18 4 Dorchester 18 17 Stoughton 18 5 Athol 17 2 Milford 17 5 North Attleborough 17 5 Lee 16 1 Hudson 15 3 North Easton 15 2 Leominster 14 6 Lowell 14 15 North Andover 14 4 West Bridgewater 14 1 Ayer 13 1 Jamaica Plain 13 5 Shirley 13 1 Upton 13 1 Salisbury 12 1 Blackstone 11 1 Revere 11 6 Lawrence 10 8 Marlborough 10 4 Andover 9 3 Brockton 9 9 Fall River 9 8 Haverhill 9 6 Holbrook 9 1 Ludlow 9 2 Maynard 9 1 Nantucket 9 1 Watertown 9 3 Chelsea 8 3 Mattapan 8 3 Spencer 8 1 Billerica 7 3 East Boston 7 3 Holyoke 7 3 Millbury 7 1 North Adams 7 1 Raynham 7 1 Auburn 6 1 Brighton 6 3 Methuen 6 3 Northbridge 6 1 South Dartmouth 5 2 Southbridge 5 1 Taunton 5 3 East Wareham 4 1 Everett 4 2 Framingham 4 3 Sandwich 4 1 Wakefield 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Worcester 4 9 Allston 3 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Falmouth 3 1 Malden 3 2 Melrose 3 1 Natick 3 1 Needham 3 1 Randolph 3 1 Roslindale 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Attleborough 2 1 Beverly 2 1 Lynn 2 2 Shrewsbury 2 1 Somerville 2 2 Chicopee 1 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 North Weymouth 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 115 Boston 0 1 Cambridge 0 1 Springfield 0 1 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 67 13 Bristol 59 49 Plymouth 53 23 Norfolk 50 43 Worcester 47 53 Nantucket 28 1 Essex 25 28 Suffolk 22 45 Middlesex 21 49 Berkshire 12 2 Hampden 9 7 Dukes 0 0 Franklin 0 0 Hampshire 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/.