Filings Week Ending 2022 April 23

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-04-17 Search Period End: 2022-04-23 Earliest Case: 2022-04-18 Latest Case: 2022-04-22 Total Cases: 456 Total Transfers: 7 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 36.0% Of those, percentage pro se: 40.2% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: North Oxford Least stable with 10+ filings: New Bedford Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Bristol Cases per day: 76 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 central 77 16.9% southeast 76 16.7% eastern 68 14.9% western 67 14.7% northeast 55 12.1% metro_south 38 8.3% fall river district 10 2.2% quincy district 8 1.8% pittsfield district 7 1.5% brockton district 5 1.1% malden district 5 1.1% chelsea district 4 0.9% peabody district 4 0.9% barnstable district 3 0.7% lynn district 3 0.7% newton district 3 0.7% bmc east boston 2 0.4% haverhill district 2 0.4% ayer district 1 0.2% bmc central 1 0.2% brookline district 1 0.2% cambridge district 1 0.2% dedham district 1 0.2% edgartown district 1 0.2% fallmouth district 1 0.2% lawrence district 1 0.2% lowell district 1 0.2% new bedford district 1 0.2% palmer district 1 0.2% somerville district 1 0.2% southern berkshire district 1 0.2% stoughton district 1 0.2% waltham district 1 0.2% wareham district 1 0.2% westfield district 1 0.2% woburn district 1 0.2% wrentham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 292 1 Natural Person 164 455 Total 456 456 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 64.0% 0.2% Natural Person 36.0% 99.8% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 286 6 292 Optional 98 66 164 Total 384 72 456 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 62.7% 1.3% 64.0% Optional 21.5% 14.5% 36.0% Total 84.2% 15.8% 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 5 450 455 Total 5 451 456 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.2% 0.2% Optional 1.1% 98.7% 99.8% Total 1.1% 98.9% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 30 6.6% 1 338 74.1% 2 73 16.0% 3 13 2.9% 4 2 0.4% Total 456 100.0% 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 213 46.7% No Fault 130 28.5% Cause 109 23.9% Foreclosure 4 0.9% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count North Oxford 44 1 Marion 40 2 New Bedford 38 37 North Falmouth 37 1 Seekonk 36 5 Three Rivers 34 1 West Brookfield 27 1 North Dighton 23 1 Webster 23 4 Fall River 22 20 Forestdale 22 1 Millbury 22 3 Brockton 21 20 Eastham 20 1 Paxton 20 1 Holbrook 18 2 Dudley 17 2 South Yarmouth 17 2 Southbridge 17 3 Worcester 17 31 Lee 16 1 Pittsfield 15 7 Gardner 14 3 Hyannis 14 2 Halifax 13 1 Auburn 12 2 Leominster 12 5 Dorchester 11 11 Foxborough 11 2 Hyde Park 11 4 Townsend 11 1 Hudson 10 2 Norwood 10 3 Sturbridge 10 1 Fitchburg 9 4 Hingham 9 2 Nantucket 9 1 Revere 9 5 Wareham 9 2 Braintree 8 3 Harwich 8 1 Spencer 8 1 Marlborough 7 3 Peabody 7 4 Stoughton 7 2 Swampscott 7 1 Taunton 7 4 Uxbridge 7 1 West Newton 7 1 Abington 6 1 Ashland 6 1 Bellingham 6 1 Malden 6 4 Natick 6 2 Northbridge 6 1 Randolph 6 2 Roslindale 6 2 Swansea 6 1 Whitman 6 1 Framingham 5 4 Jamaica Plain 5 2 Mattapan 5 2 Pembroke 5 1 Quincy 5 5 Rockland 5 1 Sharon 5 1 Somerset 5 1 Arlington 4 2 Burlington 4 1 E. Boston 4 2 East Boston 4 2 North Dartmouth 4 1 Wakefield 4 1 Allston 3 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Danvers 3 1 East Weymouth 3 2 Milton 3 1 North Andover 3 1 Plymouth 3 2 Saugus 3 1 Somerville 3 3 Watertown 3 1 Attleborough 2 1 Chelmsford 2 1 Chelsea 2 1 Newton 2 2 Shrewsbury 2 1 South Boston 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Brookline 1 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 Lynn 1 1 Medford 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 (not given) 0 162 Boston 0 4 Lowell 0 1 span 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 Bristol 86 71 Plymouth 78 34 Worcester 58 65 Berkshire 49 8 Barnstable 41 8 Norfolk 29 25 Nantucket 28 1 Suffolk 19 39 Middlesex 13 31 Essex 8 9 Hampden 2 2 Dukes 0 0 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. Methodology changes: 2022-03: Where docket history shows judgment and/or execution, but case has not been disposed, infer judgment and/or execution. 2022-05: Correct counting error in 'By prevailing party' section where agreement for judgment renders prevailing party unknown. Rows now sum to total. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.