Filings Week Ending 2022 January 15

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-01-09 Search Period End: 2022-01-15 Earliest Case: 2022-01-10 Latest Case: 2022-01-14 Total Cases: 609 Total Transfers: 6 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 36.5% Of those, percentage pro se: 53.2% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Fiskdale Least stable with 10+ filings: New Bedford Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 101 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 118 19.4% southeast 111 18.2% central 101 16.6% western 78 12.8% eastern 76 12.5% metro_south 45 7.4% attleboro district 7 1.1% malden district 6 1.0% somerville district 6 1.0% lowell district 5 0.8% springfield district 5 0.8% waltham district 5 0.8% brockton district 4 0.7% haverhill district 4 0.7% northern berkshire district 4 0.7% barnstable district 3 0.5% bmc west roxbury 3 0.5% pittsfield district 3 0.5% quincy district 3 0.5% fall river district 2 0.3% taunton district 2 0.3% westfield district 2 0.3% woburn district 2 0.3% ayer district 1 0.2% bmc east boston 1 0.2% brookline district 1 0.2% cambridge district 1 0.2% edgartown district 1 0.2% lynn district 1 0.2% milford district 1 0.2% new bedford district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% orange district 1 0.2% orleans district 1 0.2% palmer district 1 0.2% plymouth district 1 0.2% worcester district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 387 2 Natural Person 222 607 Total 609 609 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 63.5% 0.3% Natural Person 36.5% 99.7% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 368 19 387 Optional 104 118 222 Total 472 137 609 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 60.4% 3.1% 63.5% Optional 17.1% 19.4% 36.5% Total 77.5% 22.5% 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 6 601 607 Total 6 603 609 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.3% 0.3% Optional 1.0% 98.7% 99.7% Total 1.0% 99.0% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 53 8.7% 1 411 67.5% 2 116 19.0% 3 17 2.8% 4 6 1.0% 5 4 0.7% 6 1 0.2% 7 1 0.2% Total 609 100.0% 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 325 53.4% No Fault 134 22.0% Cause 130 21.3% Foreclosure 20 3.3% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Fiskdale 64 2 Northborough 56 8 Vineyard Haven 52 1 South Grafton 44 2 New Bedford 36 35 Rockland 34 6 Fall River 32 29 Gardner 29 6 Seekonk 29 4 Southbridge 29 5 West Bridgewater 28 2 Whitinsville 28 2 Fitchburg 27 11 Marshfield 27 7 Athol 25 3 Marlborough 25 10 Adams 23 2 Brockton 23 22 Blackstone 22 2 East Wareham 22 5 Allston 20 6 East Freetown 20 1 Hull 19 2 Newtonville 19 1 Hingham 18 4 Randolph 18 6 West Yarmouth 18 1 East Falmouth 17 1 Medford 17 10 Mattapoisett 16 1 Berkley 15 1 Clinton 14 2 Hyannis 14 2 Mashpee 14 2 Worcester 14 27 Braintree 13 5 Jamaica Plain 13 5 West Roxbury 13 4 Leominster 12 5 Plainville 12 1 Williamstown 12 1 Webster 11 2 Hudson 10 2 Milford 10 3 North Attleborough 10 3 Southwick 10 1 Taunton 10 6 Lakeville 9 1 Nantucket 9 1 Winchendon 9 1 Carver 8 1 Dudley 8 1 Quincy 8 8 South Yarmouth 8 1 Waltham 8 5 West Harwich 8 1 Everett 7 3 Framingham 7 5 Hanover 7 1 North Adams 7 1 Abington 6 1 Ashland 6 1 Attleborough 6 3 Auburn 6 1 Bellingham 6 1 Franklin 6 2 Haverhill 6 4 Needham 6 2 Pittsfield 6 3 Roslindale 6 2 Westport 6 1 Norton 5 1 Roxbury 5 3 Somerville 5 4 Sudbury 5 1 Dorchester Center 4 4 East Boston 4 2 North Dartmouth 4 1 Onset 4 1 Stoneham 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Westford 4 1 Lowell 3 4 Melrose 3 1 Norwood 3 1 Plymouth 3 2 Billerica 2 1 Dorchester 2 2 Hyde Park 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Woburn 2 1 Brookline 1 1 Lynn 1 1 North Weymouth 1 1 Springfield 1 2 (not given) 0 244 Boston 0 4 Cambridge 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 Plymouth 132 57 Bristol 103 85 Worcester 75 84 Berkshire 43 7 Barnstable 41 8 Norfolk 32 28 Nantucket 28 1 Dukes 24 1 Middlesex 22 52 Suffolk 16 33 Hampden 5 4 Essex 4 5 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/.