Filings Week Ending 2022 June 25

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-06-19 Search Period End: 2022-06-25 Earliest Case: 2022-06-20 Latest Case: 2022-06-24 Total Cases: 487 Total Transfers: 9 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 26.9% Of those, percentage pro se: 61.1% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: West Chatham Least stable with 10+ filings: Brockton Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Plymouth Cases per day: 81 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 104 21.4% western 102 20.9% eastern 66 13.6% central 56 11.5% southeast 52 10.7% metro_south 31 6.4% pittsfield district 9 1.8% brockton district 8 1.6% quincy district 6 1.2% waltham district 6 1.2% malden district 5 1.0% attleboro district 4 0.8% framingham district 3 0.6% lynn district 3 0.6% somerville district 3 0.6% ayer district 2 0.4% bmc east boston 2 0.4% fallmouth district 2 0.4% new bedford district 2 0.4% newton district 2 0.4% orleans district 2 0.4% westfield district 2 0.4% wrentham district 2 0.4% barnstable district 1 0.2% brookline district 1 0.2% clinton district 1 0.2% gloucester district 1 0.2% hingham district 1 0.2% lawrence district 1 0.2% milford district 1 0.2% newburyport district 1 0.2% northampton district 1 0.2% northern berkshire district 1 0.2% plymouth district 1 0.2% salem district 1 0.2% wareham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 356 6 Natural Person 131 481 Total 487 487 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 73.1% 1.2% Natural Person 26.9% 98.8% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 345 11 356 Optional 51 80 131 Total 396 91 487 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 70.8% 2.3% 73.1% Optional 10.5% 16.4% 26.9% Total 81.3% 18.7% 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 3 478 481 Total 3 484 487 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 1.2% 1.2% Optional 0.6% 98.2% 98.8% Total 0.6% 99.4% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 33 6.8% 1 364 74.7% 2 75 15.4% 3 10 2.1% 4 1 0.2% 5 4 0.8% Total 487 100.0% 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 283 58.1% Cause 115 23.6% No Fault 88 18.1% Foreclosure 1 0.2% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count West Chatham 78 1 South Lancaster 61 1 West Dennis 45 1 Westborough 43 8 Southbridge 35 6 Hyannis 28 4 Rockland 28 5 Middleborough 25 6 Bridgewater 22 6 Townsend 22 2 Brewster 20 2 Eastham 20 1 Fitchburg 19 8 Newtonville 19 1 East Wareham 18 4 Wrentham 18 2 Athol 17 2 Pittsfield 17 8 Mattapoisett 16 1 East Taunton 15 1 Brockton 14 14 Whitinsville 14 1 Attleborough 13 6 Onset 13 3 Whitman 13 2 Bellingham 12 2 Marlborough 12 5 North Grafton 12 1 Salisbury 12 1 Auburndale 10 1 Norwood 10 3 Quincy 10 10 Cherry Valley 9 1 Everett 9 4 Fall River 9 8 Gardner 9 2 Hull 9 1 New Bedford 9 9 Randolph 9 3 South Easton 9 1 Watertown 9 3 Winchendon 9 1 Feeding Hills 8 1 Harwich 8 1 Centerville 7 1 Clinton 7 1 Leominster 7 3 Mashpee 7 1 Medford 7 4 Milford 7 2 North Adams 7 1 Abington 6 1 Ashland 6 1 Worcester 6 12 Foxborough 5 1 Framingham 5 4 Holden 5 1 Norton 5 1 Taunton 5 3 Winthrop 5 1 Mansfield 4 1 Wakefield 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Dorchester 3 3 Dorchester Center 3 3 Falmouth 3 1 Franklin 3 1 Gloucester 3 1 Lynn 3 3 Marshfield 3 1 Natick 3 1 Saugus 3 1 Wellesley Hills 3 1 Beverly 2 1 Braintree 2 1 E. Boston 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 Mattapan 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Lawrence 1 1 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 265 North Scituate 0 1 span 0 2 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 104 45 Barnstable 67 13 Berkshire 55 9 Worcester 44 50 Bristol 36 30 Norfolk 28 24 Middlesex 12 28 Essex 7 8 Hampden 4 3 Suffolk 4 9 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/.

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