Filings Week Ending 2022 May 28

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-05-22 Search Period End: 2022-05-28 Earliest Case: 2022-05-23 Latest Case: 2022-05-27 Total Cases: 559 Total Transfers: 17 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 26.8% Of those, percentage pro se: 49.3% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: West Wareham Least stable with 10+ filings: Bridgewater Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 93 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 106 19.0% central 100 17.9% eastern 84 15.0% western 79 14.1% southeast 66 11.8% metro_south 50 8.9% quincy district 10 1.8% malden district 7 1.3% chelsea district 5 0.9% stoughton district 5 0.9% woburn district 4 0.7% bmc brighton 3 0.5% brockton district 3 0.5% milford district 3 0.5% pittsfield district 3 0.5% attleboro district 2 0.4% cambridge district 2 0.4% lowell district 2 0.4% new bedford district 2 0.4% waltham district 2 0.4% ayer district 1 0.2% barnstable district 1 0.2% bmc central 1 0.2% bmc east boston 1 0.2% bmc roxbury 1 0.2% brookline district 1 0.2% dedham district 1 0.2% fallmouth district 1 0.2% framingham district 1 0.2% haverhill district 1 0.2% hingham district 1 0.2% lynn district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% northern berkshire district 1 0.2% orleans district 1 0.2% palmer district 1 0.2% somerville district 1 0.2% southern berkshire district 1 0.2% springfield district 1 0.2% wareham district 1 0.2% wrentham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 409 6 Natural Person 150 553 Total 559 559 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 73.2% 1.1% Natural Person 26.8% 98.9% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 397 12 409 Optional 76 74 150 Total 473 86 559 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 71.0% 2.1% 73.2% Optional 13.6% 13.2% 26.8% Total 84.6% 15.4% 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 6 6 Optional 7 546 553 Total 7 552 559 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 1.1% 1.1% Optional 1.3% 97.7% 98.9% Total 1.3% 98.7% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 29 5.2% 1 403 72.1% 2 104 18.6% 3 16 2.9% 4 7 1.3% Total 559 100.0% 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 329 58.9% Cause 130 23.3% No Fault 88 15.7% Foreclosure 12 2.1% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count West Wareham 92 2 Bridgewater 52 14 Gardner 39 8 Marlborough 36 14 East Falmouth 34 2 Three Rivers 34 1 Fiskdale 32 1 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Fitchburg 29 12 Stoughton 25 7 Forestdale 22 1 New Bedford 21 20 Westwood 20 3 Leominster 19 8 Worcester 19 35 Fairhaven 18 3 Holbrook 18 2 Milford 17 5 Rehoboth 17 2 Rockland 17 3 Webster 17 3 Ashburnham 16 1 Chatham 16 1 Mattapoisett 16 1 Quincy 15 14 Great Barrington 14 1 Uxbridge 14 2 Brockton 12 12 Fall River 12 11 Northbridge 12 2 Plainville 12 1 Adams 11 1 Chelsea 11 4 Everett 11 5 Framingham 11 8 Mattapan 10 4 Norwood 10 3 Attleborough 9 4 Indian Orchard 9 1 South Easton 9 1 Wareham 9 2 Athol 8 1 North Dartmouth 8 2 South Yarmouth 8 1 Weston 8 1 Clinton 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Plymouth 7 4 Seekonk 7 1 Woburn 7 3 Abington 6 1 Allston 6 2 Bellingham 6 1 Dorchester 6 6 Pittsfield 6 3 Randolph 6 2 Whitman 6 1 Foxborough 5 1 Hudson 5 1 Pembroke 5 1 Revere 5 3 Somerset 5 1 South Dartmouth 5 2 Taunton 5 3 Acton 4 1 Arlington 4 2 Hingham 4 1 Mansfield 4 1 Wakefield 4 1 Westford 4 1 East Weymouth 3 2 Falmouth 3 1 Franklin 3 1 Malden 3 2 Marshfield 3 1 Medford 3 2 Needham 3 1 Watertown 3 1 Weymouth 3 2 Brighton 2 1 E. Boston 2 1 East Boston 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 Lynn 2 2 Salem 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 South Boston 2 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 Haverhill 1 1 Lowell 1 2 Newton 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 Somerville 1 1 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 244 Boston 0 6 Cambridge 0 1 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 Plymouth 101 44 Worcester 71 80 Bristol 62 51 Norfolk 46 40 Barnstable 36 7 Berkshire 30 5 Middlesex 20 48 Suffolk 16 33 Hampden 4 3 Essex 3 4 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 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/.