Filings Week Ending 2022 July 02

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-06-26 Search Period End: 2022-07-02 Earliest Case: 2022-06-27 Latest Case: 2022-07-01 Total Cases: 544 Total Transfers: 22 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 32.5% Of those, percentage pro se: 57.1% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Wrentham Least stable with 10+ filings: Wrentham Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Berkshire Cases per day: 90 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 91 16.7% central 84 15.4% western 84 15.4% southeast 77 14.2% eastern 76 14.0% metro_south 55 10.1% pittsfield district 10 1.8% malden district 7 1.3% lowell district 6 1.1% somerville district 6 1.1% lynn district 5 0.9% peabody district 5 0.9% quincy district 5 0.9% fall river district 3 0.6% southern berkshire district 3 0.6% attleboro district 2 0.4% bmc east boston 2 0.4% bmc west roxbury 2 0.4% haverhill district 2 0.4% salem district 2 0.4% springfield district 2 0.4% barnstable district 1 0.2% bmc brighton 1 0.2% brockton district 1 0.2% concord district 1 0.2% eastern hampshire district 1 0.2% fallmouth district 1 0.2% gloucester district 1 0.2% milford district 1 0.2% nantucket district 1 0.2% new bedford district 1 0.2% newburyport district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% stoughton district 1 0.2% westfield district 1 0.2% wrentham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 367 3 Natural Person 177 541 Total 544 544 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 67.5% 0.6% Natural Person 32.5% 99.4% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 353 14 367 Optional 76 101 177 Total 429 115 544 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 64.9% 2.6% 67.5% Optional 14.0% 18.6% 32.5% Total 78.9% 21.1% 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 6 535 541 Total 6 538 544 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.6% 0.6% Optional 1.1% 98.3% 99.4% Total 1.1% 98.9% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 40 7.4% 1 402 73.9% 2 83 15.3% 3 14 2.6% 4 2 0.4% 5 3 0.6% Total 544 100.0% 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 346 63.6% Cause 111 20.4% No Fault 81 14.9% Foreclosure 6 1.1% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Wrentham 109 12 East Dennis 77 2 West Boylston 52 4 South Easton 39 4 Plainville 36 3 Southbridge 35 6 Pocasset 34 1 Cotuit 30 1 Sheffield 30 1 Brookfield 29 1 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Fall River 29 26 Jefferson 28 1 Northborough 28 4 Sagamore 27 1 South Dennis 27 1 Randolph 24 8 Pittsfield 22 10 Stoughton 22 6 Worcester 22 40 Middleborough 21 5 Norton 21 4 Marlborough 20 8 Leicester 18 2 New Bedford 18 18 South Barre 18 1 West Yarmouth 18 1 East Falmouth 17 1 Everett 16 7 Lee 16 1 Great Barrington 14 1 West Bridgewater 14 1 Halifax 13 1 Upton 13 1 Millis 12 1 Salisbury 12 1 Blackstone 11 1 Braintree 11 4 Bridgewater 11 3 Douglas 11 1 Sharon 11 2 Winthrop 11 2 Norwood 10 3 Brockton 9 9 Cherry Valley 9 1 Gardner 9 2 Lakeville 9 1 Maynard 9 1 Nantucket 9 1 Winchendon 9 1 Mattapan 8 3 Medford 8 5 Quincy 8 8 Shrewsbury 8 3 Spencer 8 1 Clinton 7 1 Hyannis 7 1 Leominster 7 3 North Adams 7 1 Plymouth 7 4 Salem 7 3 Taunton 7 4 Abington 6 1 Lynn 6 6 North Attleborough 6 2 Roslindale 6 2 Chelsea 5 2 Foxborough 5 1 Hyde Park 5 2 Lowell 5 6 Peabody 5 3 Rockland 5 1 South Hadley 5 1 East Boston 4 2 Wareham 4 1 Dorchester 3 3 Franklin 3 1 Gloucester 3 1 Marshfield 3 1 Milton 3 1 Natick 3 1 Roxbury 3 2 Attleborough 2 1 Fitchburg 2 1 Somerville 2 2 South Dartmouth 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 Haverhill 1 1 Malden 1 1 Revere 1 1 Springfield 1 2 (not given) 0 234 Boston 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 Berkshire 86 14 Bristol 72 60 Worcester 67 75 Plymouth 64 28 Norfolk 58 50 Barnstable 51 10 Nantucket 28 1 Essex 13 15 Middlesex 13 31 Suffolk 10 21 Hampshire 5 1 Hampden 4 3 Dukes 0 0 Franklin 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/.