Filings Week Ending 2022 March 19

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-03-13 Search Period End: 2022-03-19 Earliest Case: 2022-03-14 Latest Case: 2022-03-18 Total Cases: 571 Total Transfers: 17 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 34.5% Of those, percentage pro se: 53.8% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Gilbertville Least stable with 10+ filings: Fitchburg Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 95 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 133 23.3% central 91 15.9% eastern 81 14.2% western 70 12.3% southeast 60 10.5% metro_south 55 9.6% lynn district 11 1.9% quincy district 9 1.6% malden district 7 1.2% bmc east boston 4 0.7% woburn district 4 0.7% cambridge district 3 0.5% chelsea district 3 0.5% haverhill district 3 0.5% new bedford district 3 0.5% pittsfield district 3 0.5% salem district 3 0.5% springfield district 3 0.5% barnstable district 2 0.4% bmc south boston 2 0.4% concord district 2 0.4% northern berkshire district 2 0.4% waltham district 2 0.4% westfield district 2 0.4% attleboro district 1 0.2% bmc roxbury 1 0.2% bmc west roxbury 1 0.2% fall river district 1 0.2% hingham district 1 0.2% holyoke district 1 0.2% lowell district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% peabody district 1 0.2% somerville district 1 0.2% taunton district 1 0.2% wareham district 1 0.2% wrentham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 374 3 Natural Person 197 568 Total 571 571 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 65.5% 0.5% Natural Person 34.5% 99.5% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 364 10 374 Optional 91 106 197 Total 455 116 571 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 63.7% 1.8% 65.5% Optional 15.9% 18.6% 34.5% Total 79.7% 20.3% 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 6 562 568 Total 6 565 571 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.5% 0.5% Optional 1.1% 98.4% 99.5% Total 1.1% 98.9% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 47 8.2% 1 406 71.1% 2 94 16.5% 3 15 2.6% 4 5 0.9% 5 3 0.5% 6 1 0.2% Total 571 100.0% 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 301 52.7% Cause 135 23.6% No Fault 132 23.1% Foreclosure 3 0.5% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Gilbertville 86 1 Royalston 79 1 Russell 56 1 Hinsdale 49 1 Fitchburg 39 16 Southbridge 35 6 Berlin 34 1 East Falmouth 34 2 Provincetown 33 1 West Brookfield 27 1 Bridgewater 26 7 New Bedford 26 25 Webster 23 4 Revere 21 11 Hyde Park 20 7 Lynn 19 18 Barre 18 1 Holbrook 18 2 Lakeville 18 2 South Barre 18 1 West Yarmouth 18 1 Weymouth 18 10 Worcester 18 34 Brockton 17 16 Carver 17 2 Dudley 17 2 Malden 16 10 Lincoln 15 1 Chelsea 14 5 Gardner 14 3 North Adams 14 2 Whitinsville 14 1 Mattapan 13 5 West Boylston 13 1 Auburn 12 2 Lowell 12 13 Randolph 12 4 Douglas 11 1 South Boston 11 4 Winthrop 11 2 Auburndale 10 1 Beverly 10 4 Dorchester 10 10 Fall River 10 9 Norwood 10 3 Roslindale 10 3 Taunton 10 6 Tewksbury 10 3 Attleborough 9 4 Maynard 9 1 South Easton 9 1 Dorchester Center 8 8 Feeding Hills 8 1 Framingham 8 6 Middleborough 8 2 Quincy 8 8 Spencer 8 1 Cambridge 7 8 East Bridgewater 7 1 Hanover 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Leominster 7 3 Medford 7 4 Salem 7 3 Swampscott 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Allston 6 2 Amesbury 6 1 Dracut 6 2 Fairhaven 6 1 Methuen 6 3 North Reading 6 1 Roxbury 6 4 Watertown 6 2 Whitman 6 1 Braintree 5 2 Chelmsford 5 2 East Weymouth 5 3 Foxborough 5 1 Grafton 5 1 Holden 5 1 Hudson 5 1 Lawrence 5 4 Peabody 5 3 Pembroke 5 1 Rockland 5 1 Scituate 5 1 Sharon 5 1 Woburn 5 2 Burlington 4 1 Canton 4 1 Dedham 4 1 E. Boston 4 2 East Boston 4 2 Everett 4 2 Haverhill 4 3 Hingham 4 1 Onset 4 1 Pittsfield 4 2 Sandwich 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Winchester 4 1 Andover 3 1 Brookline 3 2 Franklin 3 1 Lexington 3 1 Melrose 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Plymouth 3 2 Somerville 3 3 Stoughton 3 1 Wellesley Hills 3 1 West Roxbury 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Brighton 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 Marlborough 2 1 South Dartmouth 2 1 Boston 1 8 Newton 1 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 (not given) 0 158 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 94 41 Worcester 74 83 Bristol 58 48 Norfolk 48 41 Suffolk 38 76 Essex 37 41 Berkshire 30 5 Middlesex 30 70 Barnstable 25 5 Hampden 4 3 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. Methodology changes: 2022-03: Where docket history shows judgment and/or execution, but has not formally been disposed, infer judgment and/or execution. 2022-03: Where judgment is inferred, exclude from statistical calculations of duration and amount owed. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.