Filings Week Ending 2022 November 12

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-11-06 Search Period End: 2022-11-12 Earliest Case: 2022-11-07 Latest Case: 2022-11-11 Total Cases: 807 Total Transfers: 7 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 25.3% Of those, percentage pro se: 63.2% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Nahant Least stable with 10+ filings: Bellingham Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Norfolk Cases per day: 134 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 statistically significantly above the pre-pandemic housing crisis baseline. -- Courts (n) Count Percent northeast 158 19.6% western 136 16.9% eastern 129 16.0% central 107 13.3% southeast 89 11.0% metro_south 87 10.8% quincy district 21 2.6% lynn district 15 1.9% cambridge district 11 1.4% malden district 11 1.4% woburn district 6 0.7% brockton district 4 0.5% haverhill district 4 0.5% attleboro district 3 0.4% bmc east boston 3 0.4% chelsea district 3 0.4% gloucester district 3 0.4% bmc west roxbury 2 0.2% fall river district 2 0.2% lowell district 2 0.2% waltham district 2 0.2% westfield district 2 0.2% ayer district 1 0.1% barnstable district 1 0.1% brookline district 1 0.1% dedham district 1 0.1% northern berkshire district 1 0.1% palmer district 1 0.1% wrentham district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 603 5 Natural Person 204 802 Total 807 807 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 74.7% 0.6% Natural Person 25.3% 99.4% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 591 12 603 Optional 75 129 204 Total 666 141 807 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 73.2% 1.5% 74.7% Optional 9.3% 16.0% 25.3% Total 82.5% 17.5% 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 5 5 Optional 9 793 802 Total 9 798 807 (%) 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 44 5.5% 1 631 78.2% 2 117 14.5% 3 10 1.2% 4 5 0.6% Total 807 100.0% 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 557 69.0% Cause 126 15.6% No Fault 118 14.6% Foreclosure 6 0.7% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Nahant 205 7 Bellingham 61 10 West Barnstable 35 1 South Yarmouth 34 4 Stoughton 33 9 Dennis Port 31 1 Quincy 30 28 Hanson 29 3 New Bedford 29 28 Sagamore Beach 27 1 Whitman 27 4 Worcester 27 50 Fall River 25 23 Gardner 24 5 Brockton 22 21 East Weymouth 20 11 Eastham 20 1 Framingham 19 13 Randolph 18 6 Hyde Park 17 6 Norwood 17 5 Rockland 17 3 Millbury 15 2 Hyannis 14 2 Mashpee 14 2 Attleborough 13 6 Westminster 13 1 Everett 11 5 South Weymouth 11 6 Sutton 11 1 Gloucester 10 3 Hudson 10 2 Malden 10 6 Marblehead 10 2 Westborough 10 2 Cambridge 9 10 Fitchburg 9 4 Holbrook 9 1 Leominster 9 4 South Easton 9 1 Winchendon 9 1 Braintree 8 3 Dudley 8 1 Harwich 8 1 Mansfield 8 2 Reading 8 2 Spencer 8 1 Taunton 8 5 Clinton 7 1 E. Boston 7 3 East Bridgewater 7 1 East Walpole 7 2 North Adams 7 1 Raynham 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Abington 6 1 Auburn 6 1 Haverhill 6 4 North Reading 6 1 Northbridge 6 1 Roslindale 6 2 Swansea 6 1 Watertown 6 2 Chelsea 5 2 Dorchester 5 5 Lynn 5 5 Marlborough 5 2 Mattapan 5 2 Pembroke 5 1 Sharon 5 1 Shrewsbury 5 2 Somerset 5 1 Webster 5 1 Woburn 5 2 Belmont 4 1 Canton 4 1 Dorchester Center 4 4 North Dartmouth 4 1 Sandwich 4 1 Stoneham 4 1 Westford 4 1 Agawam 3 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Franklin 3 1 Milford 3 1 Natick 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Plymouth 3 2 Saugus 3 1 Billerica 2 1 Chelmsford 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Revere 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 418 Boston 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 Norfolk 98 84 Bristol 85 70 Plymouth 85 37 Barnstable 72 14 Worcester 71 80 Middlesex 22 52 Essex 20 22 Suffolk 13 27 Berkshire 6 1 Hampden 2 2 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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