Filings Week Ending 2022 January 22

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-01-16 Search Period End: 2022-01-22 Earliest Case: 2022-01-17 Latest Case: 2022-01-21 Total Cases: 404 Total Transfers: 14 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 31.4% Of those, percentage pro se: 52.8% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Pocasset Least stable with 10+ filings: Quincy Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 67 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 77 19.1% western 63 15.6% central 56 13.9% southeast 53 13.1% eastern 46 11.4% metro_south 38 9.4% quincy district 13 3.2% fallmouth district 7 1.7% pittsfield district 7 1.7% malden district 6 1.5% chelsea district 5 1.2% haverhill district 5 1.2% fall river district 4 1.0% lynn district 4 1.0% attleboro district 3 0.7% milford district 3 0.7% barnstable district 2 0.5% new bedford district 2 0.5% somerville district 2 0.5% bmc east boston 1 0.2% bmc west roxbury 1 0.2% concord district 1 0.2% edgartown district 1 0.2% framingham district 1 0.2% springfield district 1 0.2% woburn district 1 0.2% wrentham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 277 1 Natural Person 127 403 Total 404 404 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 68.6% 0.2% Natural Person 31.4% 99.8% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 257 20 277 Optional 60 67 127 Total 317 87 404 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 63.6% 5.0% 68.6% Optional 14.9% 16.6% 31.4% Total 78.5% 21.5% 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 1 1 Optional 5 398 403 Total 5 399 404 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.2% 0.2% Optional 1.2% 98.5% 99.8% Total 1.2% 98.8% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 41 10.1% 1 268 66.3% 2 80 19.8% 3 11 2.7% 4 2 0.5% 5 1 0.2% 6 1 0.2% Total 404 100.0% 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 248 61.4% Cause 93 23.0% No Fault 56 13.9% Foreclosure 5 1.2% Unknown/Other 2 0.5% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Pocasset 69 2 North Falmouth 37 1 Hyannis 35 5 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Dalton 29 2 Athol 25 3 Randolph 24 8 Boylston 22 1 Mashpee 21 3 Quincy 19 18 West Yarmouth 18 1 East Falmouth 17 1 Mendon 17 1 Southbridge 17 3 Webster 17 3 Mattapoisett 16 1 New Bedford 16 16 Clinton 14 2 Fall River 14 13 Whitinsville 14 1 Cohasset 13 1 Framingham 13 9 Whitman 13 2 Middleborough 12 3 Plainville 12 1 Worcester 12 23 Braintree 11 4 Pittsfield 11 5 Somerset 11 2 North Attleborough 10 3 Dorchester 9 9 Everett 9 4 Lakeville 9 1 Leominster 9 4 Maynard 9 1 South Easton 9 1 Chelsea 8 3 Haverhill 8 5 Medfield 8 1 South Yarmouth 8 1 Marshfield 7 2 Milford 7 2 Revere 7 4 Attleborough 6 3 Auburn 6 1 Brockton 6 6 Franklin 6 2 Dartmouth 5 2 Hyde Park 5 2 Jamaica Plain 5 2 Marlborough 5 2 Mattapan 5 2 Norton 5 1 Rockland 5 1 Taunton 5 3 Westborough 5 1 Dedham 4 1 East Wareham 4 1 Fitchburg 4 2 Gardner 4 1 Lynn 4 4 North Dartmouth 4 1 Walpole 4 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Melrose 3 1 Norwood 3 1 Stoughton 3 1 Chelmsford 2 1 Dorchester Center 2 2 E. Boston 2 1 Somerville 2 2 East Weymouth 1 1 Lawrence 1 1 Malden 1 1 South Weymouth 1 1 Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 172 Springfield 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 77 15 Bristol 54 45 Norfolk 49 42 Berkshire 43 7 Worcester 43 48 Plymouth 41 18 Suffolk 12 25 Essex 9 10 Middlesex 9 21 Hampden 1 1 Dukes 0 0 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/.