Filings Week Ending 2023 January 21

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-01-15 Search Period End: 2023-01-21 Earliest Case: 2023-01-16 Latest Case: 2023-01-20 Total Cases: 722 Total Transfers: 11 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 24.0% Of those, percentage pro se: 41.6% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: North Truro Least stable with 10+ filings: New Bedford Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Bristol Cases per day: 120 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 141 19.5% southeast 116 16.1% western 112 15.5% eastern 102 14.1% northeast 97 13.4% metro_south 66 9.1% quincy district 22 3.0% malden district 11 1.5% pittsfield district 9 1.2% lynn district 8 1.1% chelsea district 4 0.6% haverhill district 4 0.6% lawrence district 3 0.4% new bedford district 3 0.4% bmc east boston 2 0.3% brockton district 2 0.3% dedham district 2 0.3% salem district 2 0.3% attleboro district 1 0.1% bmc roxbury 1 0.1% bmc south boston 1 0.1% bmc west roxbury 1 0.1% chicopee district 1 0.1% lowell district 1 0.1% nantucket district 1 0.1% newton district 1 0.1% orleans district 1 0.1% peabody district 1 0.1% plymouth district 1 0.1% springfield district 1 0.1% stoughton district 1 0.1% waltham district 1 0.1% woburn district 1 0.1% wrentham district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 549 6 Natural Person 173 716 Total 722 722 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 76.0% 0.8% Natural Person 24.0% 99.2% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 544 5 549 Optional 101 72 173 Total 645 77 722 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 75.3% 0.7% 76.0% Optional 14.0% 10.0% 24.0% Total 89.3% 10.7% 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 7 709 716 Total 7 715 722 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.8% 0.8% Optional 1.0% 98.2% 99.2% Total 1.0% 99.0% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 31 4.3% 1 538 74.5% 2 123 17.0% 3 24 3.3% 4 5 0.7% 5 1 0.1% Total 722 100.0% 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 508 70.4% No Fault 111 15.4% Cause 98 13.6% Foreclosure 5 0.7% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count North Truro 99 2 New Bedford 66 63 Oxford 65 9 Wrentham 63 7 Harwich Port 57 1 Norfolk 53 6 Athol 43 5 Whitinsville 43 3 Westborough 38 7 West Yarmouth 37 2 Gardner 34 7 Worcester 34 62 Provincetown 33 1 Dennis Port 31 1 Lunenburg 29 3 Nahant 29 1 Brockton 27 26 Halifax 26 2 West Boylston 26 2 Stoughton 25 7 Framingham 23 16 Fitchburg 22 9 Middleborough 21 5 Marstons Mills 20 1 Whitman 20 3 Malden 18 11 Dudley 17 2 Pittsfield 17 8 Fall River 16 15 Newton Upper Falls 16 1 Taunton 16 9 Danvers 15 4 Lynn 15 14 Medway 15 2 Quincy 15 14 Mashpee 14 2 Duxbury 13 2 Leominster 12 5 Plainville 12 1 Rutland 12 1 Salisbury 12 1 Beverly 10 4 Marlborough 10 4 Norwood 10 3 Canton 9 2 East Weymouth 9 5 Hanson 9 1 Holbrook 9 1 Indian Orchard 9 1 Nantucket 9 1 Salem 9 4 South Easton 9 1 Stoneham 9 2 Braintree 8 3 Carver 8 1 Chelsea 8 3 Dedham 8 2 Haverhill 8 5 Methuen 8 4 Wakefield 8 2 Bedford 7 1 Millbury 7 1 Weymouth 7 4 Abington 6 1 Attleborough 6 3 Gloucester 6 2 North Attleborough 6 2 North Reading 6 1 Randolph 6 2 Roslindale 6 2 Watertown 6 2 Westwood 6 1 Bourne 5 1 Hudson 5 1 Peabody 5 3 Pembroke 5 1 Rockland 5 1 Somerset 5 1 Southbridge 5 1 Winthrop 5 1 Hingham 4 1 Onset 4 1 Dorchester 3 3 Franklin 3 1 Melrose 3 1 Milford 3 1 Natick 3 1 Needham 3 1 North Andover 3 1 Waltham 3 2 E. Boston 2 1 East Boston 2 1 Everett 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 Chicopee 1 1 Dorchester Center 1 1 Revere 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 South Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 273 Lowell 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 Bristol 114 94 Worcester 106 119 Plymouth 104 45 Norfolk 73 63 Barnstable 56 11 Berkshire 49 8 Essex 39 43 Nantucket 28 1 Middlesex 20 47 Suffolk 7 15 Hampden 4 3 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. 2023-01: We now report dispositions on the basis of the last disposition found in a docket. Previously we were using a prioritized keyword match, which produced inaccurate results for complex cases. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.