Filings Week Ending 2023 March 18

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-03-12 Search Period End: 2023-03-18 Earliest Case: 2023-03-13 Latest Case: 2023-03-17 Total Cases: 860 Total Transfers: 21 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 27.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 48.7% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Fall River Least stable with 10+ filings: Fall River Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Bristol Cases per day: 143 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 southeast 174 20.2% eastern 133 15.5% central 131 15.2% northeast 128 14.9% western 100 11.6% metro_south 43 5.0% bmc east boston 16 1.9% lynn district 13 1.5% fall river district 12 1.4% quincy district 12 1.4% malden district 11 1.3% cambridge district 7 0.8% brockton district 5 0.6% chicopee district 5 0.6% salem district 5 0.6% somerville district 5 0.6% dedham district 4 0.5% pittsfield district 4 0.5% springfield district 4 0.5% woburn district 4 0.5% wrentham district 4 0.5% attleboro district 3 0.3% lowell district 3 0.3% northern berkshire district 3 0.3% taunton district 3 0.3% barnstable district 2 0.2% bmc dorchester 2 0.2% bmc west roxbury 2 0.2% framingham district 2 0.2% waltham district 2 0.2% ayer district 1 0.1% bmc brighton 1 0.1% chelsea district 1 0.1% eastern hampshire district 1 0.1% fallmouth district 1 0.1% gloucester district 1 0.1% haverhill district 1 0.1% hingham district 1 0.1% holyoke district 1 0.1% ipswich district 1 0.1% lawrence district 1 0.1% milford district 1 0.1% nantucket district 1 0.1% newburyport district 1 0.1% northampton district 1 0.1% orleans district 1 0.1% stoughton district 1 0.1% westfield district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 626 4 Natural Person 234 856 Total 860 860 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 72.8% 0.5% Natural Person 27.2% 99.5% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 623 3 626 Optional 120 114 234 Total 743 117 860 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 72.4% 0.3% 72.8% Optional 14.0% 13.3% 27.2% Total 86.4% 13.6% 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 4 4 Optional 6 850 856 Total 6 854 860 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.5% 0.5% Optional 0.7% 98.8% 99.5% Total 0.7% 99.3% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 42 4.9% 1 639 74.3% 2 149 17.3% 3 20 2.3% 4 9 1.0% 6 1 0.1% Total 860 100.0% 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 566 65.8% No Fault 150 17.4% Cause 136 15.8% Foreclosure 8 0.9% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Fall River 74 66 North Falmouth 74 2 New Bedford 53 51 South Easton 48 5 Chestnut Hill 47 1 Halifax 39 3 Athol 34 4 E. Boston 34 14 East Falmouth 34 2 Worcester 33 60 Revere 32 17 Abington 31 5 Kingston 31 4 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Dorchester 29 27 East Sandwich 28 1 Hanover 28 4 Fitchburg 27 11 Framingham 23 16 Lowell 23 25 Quincy 23 22 Hubbardston 22 1 North Adams 21 3 Norton 21 4 Westborough 21 4 Brewster 20 2 Hyde Park 20 7 Newtonville 19 1 Warren 19 1 Winchendon 19 2 Yarmouth Port 19 1 Hingham 18 4 Lynn 18 17 Wrentham 18 2 Norwood 17 5 Roslindale 17 5 Southbridge 17 3 Winthrop 17 3 Everett 16 7 Mattapoisett 16 1 East Taunton 15 1 Medway 15 2 Newbury 15 1 Dalton 14 1 Great Barrington 14 1 Hyannis 14 2 Plymouth 14 8 Raynham 14 2 Rockport 14 1 Shrewsbury 14 5 Taunton 14 8 Whitinsville 14 1 Cambridge 13 14 Fairhaven 12 2 Mansfield 12 3 Salem 12 5 Westport 12 2 Brighton 11 5 Somerset 11 2 South Weymouth 11 6 Townsend 11 1 Webster 11 2 Auburndale 10 1 Marlborough 10 4 Medford 10 6 North Attleborough 10 3 Roxbury Crossing 10 6 Southwick 10 1 Sturbridge 10 1 Brockton 9 9 Canton 9 2 Cherry Valley 9 1 Dorchester Center 9 9 East Boston 9 4 Hanson 9 1 Lakeville 9 1 Lunenburg 9 1 Westford 9 2 Burlington 8 2 Chelsea 8 3 Harwich 8 1 Lynnfield 8 1 Mattapan 8 3 South Yarmouth 8 1 Spencer 8 1 Centerville 7 1 Chicopee 7 4 Holliston 7 1 Ipswich 7 1 Mashpee 7 1 Northborough 7 1 Swampscott 7 1 West Springfield 7 2 Woburn 7 3 Ashland 6 1 Auburn 6 1 Franklin 6 2 North Reading 6 1 Northbridge 6 1 Pittsfield 6 3 Randolph 6 2 Roxbury 6 4 Tewksbury 6 2 Braintree 5 2 Charlestown 5 1 Foxborough 5 1 Grafton 5 1 Hudson 5 1 Jamaica Plain 5 2 Pembroke 5 1 Somerville 5 4 South Boston 5 2 Sudbury 5 1 Arlington 4 2 Dedham 4 1 East Wareham 4 1 Gardner 4 1 Leominster 4 2 Middleborough 4 1 North Dartmouth 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Allston 3 1 Boston 3 22 Danvers 3 1 East Walpole 3 1 East Weymouth 3 2 Gloucester 3 1 Malden 3 2 Melrose 3 1 Milford 3 1 Milton 3 1 Natick 3 1 Saugus 3 1 Stoughton 3 1 Waltham 3 2 Watertown 3 1 Weymouth 3 2 Attleborough 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 Methuen 2 1 Brookline 1 1 Haverhill 1 1 Newton Highlands 1 1 Peabody 1 1 Springfield 1 2 (not given) 0 198 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 Bristol 183 151 Plymouth 101 44 Worcester 95 106 Barnstable 77 15 Suffolk 68 135 Norfolk 65 56 Berkshire 49 8 Middlesex 44 103 Essex 30 33 Hampden 14 10 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/.