Filings Week Ending 2022 January 01

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2021-12-26 Search Period End: 2022-01-01 Earliest Case: 2021-12-27 Latest Case: 2021-12-31 Total Cases: 374 Total Transfers: 6 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 30.5% Of those, percentage pro se: 42.1% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Pocasset Least stable with 10+ filings: Fall River Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 62 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 78 20.9% northeast 59 15.8% southeast 49 13.1% eastern 45 12.0% central 44 11.8% metro_south 39 10.4% fallmouth district 11 2.9% quincy district 9 2.4% lynn district 5 1.3% new bedford district 4 1.1% barnstable district 3 0.8% attleboro district 2 0.5% bmc brighton 2 0.5% bmc east boston 2 0.5% cambridge district 2 0.5% lowell district 2 0.5% orleans district 2 0.5% somerville district 2 0.5% woburn district 2 0.5% bmc south boston 1 0.3% chelsea district 1 0.3% clinton district 1 0.3% edgartown district 1 0.3% framingham district 1 0.3% hingham district 1 0.3% lawrence district 1 0.3% malden district 1 0.3% milford 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 260 0 Natural Person 114 374 Total 374 374 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 69.5% 0.0% Natural Person 30.5% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 255 5 260 Optional 66 48 114 Total 321 53 374 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 68.2% 1.3% 69.5% Optional 17.6% 12.8% 30.5% Total 85.8% 14.2% 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 1 373 374 Total 1 373 374 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Optional 0.3% 99.7% 100.0% Total 0.3% 99.7% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 26 7.0% 1 262 70.1% 2 63 16.8% 3 19 5.1% 4 3 0.8% 5 1 0.3% Total 374 100.0% 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 266 71.1% Cause 63 16.8% No Fault 42 11.2% Foreclosure 3 0.8% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Pocasset 311 9 Tolland 206 1 Florida 132 1 Wellfleet 72 2 Vineyard Haven 52 1 Chestnut Hill 47 1 Fall River 31 28 Wrentham 27 3 Littleton 22 2 Paxton 20 1 Andover 18 6 Canton 18 4 West Yarmouth 18 1 East Falmouth 17 1 Rowley 17 1 Webster 17 3 Marlborough 15 6 North Andover 14 4 Whitinsville 14 1 Braintree 13 5 Halifax 13 1 Belmont 12 3 East Boston 12 5 New Bedford 12 12 Rutland 12 1 Bridgewater 11 3 Lowell 11 12 Southbridge 11 2 Framingham 10 7 North Attleborough 10 3 Brockton 9 9 East Weymouth 9 5 Holbrook 9 1 Lakeville 9 1 Leicester 9 1 North Billerica 9 1 Randolph 9 3 Carver 8 1 Mansfield 8 2 Mattapan 8 3 South Yarmouth 8 1 Tyngsborough 8 1 Clinton 7 1 Fitchburg 7 3 Hyannis 7 1 Lawrence 7 6 North Adams 7 1 North Easton 7 1 Northborough 7 1 Swampscott 7 1 Worcester 7 13 Abington 6 1 Allston 6 2 Dracut 6 2 Methuen 6 3 Somerville 6 5 Chelsea 5 2 Foxborough 5 1 Hudson 5 1 Hyde Park 5 2 Jamaica Plain 5 2 Quincy 5 5 Rockland 5 1 Sudbury 5 1 Westborough 5 1 Weymouth 5 3 Winthrop 5 1 Brighton 4 2 Easton 4 1 Lynn 4 4 Walpole 4 1 East Walpole 3 1 Falmouth 3 1 Haverhill 3 2 Melrose 3 1 Milford 3 1 Milton 3 1 Needham Heights 3 1 Revere 3 2 Roxbury 3 2 Saugus 3 1 Stoughton 3 1 Taunton 3 2 Attleborough 2 1 Billerica 2 1 Chelmsford 2 1 E. Boston 2 1 Leominster 2 1 Boston 1 9 Brookline 1 1 Dorchester 1 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 Plymouth 1 1 Springfield 1 2 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 107 span 0 2 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 82 16 Bristol 60 50 Norfolk 43 37 Plymouth 41 18 Worcester 26 30 Essex 25 28 Dukes 24 1 Middlesex 19 45 Suffolk 17 35 Berkshire 12 2 Hampden 4 3 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/.

Advertisement

Property Rights Supporter

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement