Filings Week Ending 2023 February 25

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-02-19 Search Period End: 2023-02-25 Earliest Case: 2023-02-20 Latest Case: 2023-02-24 Total Cases: 489 Total Transfers: 7 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 26.8% Of those, percentage pro se: 50.4% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Baldwinville Least stable with 10+ filings: Fitchburg 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 central 94 19.2% northeast 78 16.0% eastern 69 14.1% southeast 65 13.3% western 47 9.6% metro_south 38 7.8% bmc west roxbury 10 2.0% quincy district 10 2.0% malden district 9 1.8% brockton district 8 1.6% lowell district 7 1.4% framingham district 5 1.0% lawrence district 4 0.8% lynn district 4 0.8% pittsfield district 4 0.8% waltham district 4 0.8% cambridge district 3 0.6% fall river district 3 0.6% attleboro district 2 0.4% bmc east boston 2 0.4% chelsea district 2 0.4% new bedford district 2 0.4% newton district 2 0.4% orleans district 2 0.4% somerville district 2 0.4% barnstable district 1 0.2% bmc dorchester 1 0.2% chicopee district 1 0.2% concord district 1 0.2% gloucester district 1 0.2% haverhill district 1 0.2% holyoke district 1 0.2% milford district 1 0.2% newburyport district 1 0.2% peabody district 1 0.2% salem district 1 0.2% wareham district 1 0.2% woburn district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 358 1 Natural Person 131 488 Total 489 489 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 73.2% 0.2% Natural Person 26.8% 99.8% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 350 8 358 Optional 65 66 131 Total 415 74 489 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 71.6% 1.6% 73.2% Optional 13.3% 13.5% 26.8% Total 84.9% 15.1% 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 1 1 Optional 4 484 488 Total 4 485 489 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.2% 0.2% Optional 0.8% 99.0% 99.8% Total 0.8% 99.2% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 31 6.3% 1 360 73.6% 2 84 17.2% 3 14 2.9% Total 489 100.0% 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 364 74.4% Cause 66 13.5% No Fault 57 11.7% Foreclosure 2 0.4% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Baldwinville 52 1 West Wareham 46 1 Newtonville 38 2 Wellfleet 36 1 Provincetown 33 1 Roslindale 31 9 Bellingham 30 5 Fitchburg 29 12 Gardner 29 6 East Sandwich 28 1 New Bedford 25 24 Marlborough 23 9 Brockton 22 21 Hyannis 21 3 Middleborough 21 5 Yarmouth Port 19 1 Fall River 18 16 Worcester 18 34 Marshfield 15 4 Revere 15 8 Stow 15 1 Framingham 14 10 Milford 14 4 Cohasset 13 1 Hopkinton 13 2 Abington 12 2 Natick 12 4 Attleborough 11 5 Quincy 11 11 Rockland 11 2 Southbridge 11 2 Hudson 10 2 Westborough 10 2 East Wareham 9 2 Everett 9 4 Leominster 9 4 Wareham 9 2 Weymouth 9 5 Chelsea 8 3 Pittsfield 8 4 South Yarmouth 8 1 Spencer 8 1 Clinton 7 1 Holliston 7 1 Melrose 7 2 Fairhaven 6 1 Lowell 6 7 Needham 6 2 West Roxbury 6 2 Foxborough 5 1 Lawrence 5 4 Malden 5 3 Mattapan 5 2 Newburyport 5 1 Taunton 5 3 Winthrop 5 1 Arlington 4 2 Belmont 4 1 Canton 4 1 Dedham 4 1 Dorchester 4 4 Lynn 4 4 Stoneham 4 1 Waltham 4 3 Dorchester Center 3 3 Gloucester 3 1 Medford 3 2 Milton 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Randolph 3 1 Wellesley 3 1 Beverly 2 1 Braintree 2 1 E. Boston 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 Salem 2 1 Somerville 2 2 Cambridge 1 2 Chicopee 1 1 East Weymouth 1 1 Haverhill 1 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 Peabody 1 1 Plymouth 1 1 Roxbury 1 1 (not given) 0 171 Boston 0 5 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 92 40 Bristol 60 50 Worcester 60 67 Barnstable 41 8 Norfolk 37 32 Middlesex 26 61 Berkshire 24 4 Suffolk 20 40 Essex 12 14 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. 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/.