Filings Week Ending 2022 March 26

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-03-20 Search Period End: 2022-03-26 Earliest Case: 2022-03-21 Latest Case: 2022-03-25 Total Cases: 513 Total Transfers: 13 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 31.0% Of those, percentage pro se: 52.2% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Cummaquid Least stable with 10+ filings: Mattapan Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Barnstable Cases per day: 85 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 103 20.1% central 95 18.5% southeast 67 13.1% eastern 65 12.7% western 60 11.7% metro_south 41 8.0% lynn district 11 2.1% bmc west roxbury 8 1.6% quincy district 7 1.4% barnstable district 6 1.2% brockton district 5 1.0% new bedford district 4 0.8% haverhill district 3 0.6% malden district 3 0.6% pittsfield district 3 0.6% somerville district 3 0.6% worcester district 3 0.6% eastern hampshire district 2 0.4% gloucester district 2 0.4% lowell district 2 0.4% northern berkshire district 2 0.4% waltham district 2 0.4% wareham district 2 0.4% woburn district 2 0.4% attleboro district 1 0.2% ayer district 1 0.2% bmc brighton 1 0.2% fall river district 1 0.2% milford district 1 0.2% newburyport district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% orleans district 1 0.2% plymouth district 1 0.2% salem district 1 0.2% stoughton district 1 0.2% westfield district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 354 3 Natural Person 159 510 Total 513 513 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 69.0% 0.6% Natural Person 31.0% 99.4% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 348 6 354 Optional 76 83 159 Total 424 89 513 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 67.8% 1.2% 69.0% Optional 14.8% 16.2% 31.0% Total 82.7% 17.3% 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 5 505 510 Total 5 508 513 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.6% 0.6% Optional 1.0% 98.4% 99.4% Total 1.0% 99.0% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 41 8.0% 1 346 67.4% 2 101 19.7% 3 21 4.1% 4 3 0.6% 5 1 0.2% Total 513 100.0% 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 321 62.6% Cause 101 19.7% No Fault 74 14.4% Foreclosure 17 3.3% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Cummaquid 182 1 South Chatham 97 1 West Yarmouth 94 5 Mattapan 52 19 Vineyard Haven 52 1 Plympton 35 1 Dennis Port 31 1 Buzzards Bay 29 1 South Easton 29 3 Woburn 28 11 Framingham 27 19 Roslindale 27 8 Tewksbury 27 8 Worcester 25 47 Clinton 22 3 New Bedford 22 21 Brockton 21 20 Lynn 21 19 Brewster 20 2 Winchendon 19 2 Yarmouth Port 19 1 Dudley 17 2 Milford 17 5 Rockland 17 3 Braintree 16 6 Roxbury 16 10 Salem 16 7 Bridgewater 15 4 East Taunton 15 1 Saugus 15 4 Gardner 14 3 North Adams 14 2 North Andover 14 4 Oxford 14 2 Rockport 14 1 Attleborough 13 6 Upton 13 1 Fall River 12 11 Franklin 12 4 Millis 12 1 Salisbury 12 1 Blackstone 11 1 Quincy 11 11 Townsend 11 1 Webster 11 2 Malden 10 6 Southwick 10 1 Ware 10 1 Westborough 10 2 Holbrook 9 1 Lakeville 9 1 Peabody 9 5 Sandwich 9 2 Wareham 9 2 Cambridge 8 9 Carver 8 1 Lynnfield 8 1 Middleborough 8 2 Hyannis 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Mashpee 7 1 Gloucester 6 2 Natick 6 2 Randolph 6 2 Swansea 6 1 Dorchester 5 5 Grafton 5 1 Greenfield 5 1 Lawrence 5 4 Marlborough 5 2 Norton 5 1 South Hadley 5 1 Southbridge 5 1 Taunton 5 3 Brighton 4 2 Burlington 4 1 Dedham 4 1 Everett 4 2 Hingham 4 1 Leominster 4 2 Mansfield 4 1 Methuen 4 2 Pittsfield 4 2 Waltham 4 3 Danvers 3 1 Dorchester Center 3 3 East Weymouth 3 2 Falmouth 3 1 Haverhill 3 2 Marshfield 3 1 Medford 3 2 Melrose 3 1 Milton 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Revere 3 2 Stoughton 3 1 East Boston 2 1 Fitchburg 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 Lowell 2 3 Somerville 2 2 South Boston 2 1 South Dartmouth 2 1 Boston 1 9 Brookline 1 1 Newton 1 1 Plymouth 1 1 South Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 105 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 88 17 Plymouth 88 38 Worcester 67 75 Bristol 60 50 Essex 48 53 Norfolk 37 32 Middlesex 31 73 Suffolk 30 61 Berkshire 24 4 Dukes 24 1 Hampshire 10 2 Franklin 9 1 Hampden 1 1 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 case has not been disposed, infer judgment and/or execution. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.