Filings Week Ending 2023 March 25

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-03-19 Search Period End: 2023-03-25 Earliest Case: 2023-03-20 Latest Case: 2023-03-24 Total Cases: 787 Total Transfers: 17 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 21.3% Of those, percentage pro se: 47.0% 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: Plymouth Cases per day: 131 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 eastern 152 19.3% northeast 105 13.3% western 100 12.7% central 95 12.1% metro_south 89 11.3% southeast 89 11.3% malden district 21 2.7% lynn district 17 2.2% lowell district 16 2.0% pittsfield district 13 1.7% brockton district 10 1.3% quincy district 10 1.3% fall river district 9 1.1% bmc west roxbury 5 0.6% cambridge district 5 0.6% barnstable district 4 0.5% chelsea district 4 0.5% new bedford district 4 0.5% taunton district 3 0.4% woburn district 3 0.4% concord district 2 0.3% eastern hampshire district 2 0.3% fallmouth district 2 0.3% gloucester district 2 0.3% hingham district 2 0.3% nantucket district 2 0.3% northern berkshire district 2 0.3% somerville district 2 0.3% springfield district 2 0.3% attleboro district 1 0.1% bmc east boston 1 0.1% chicopee district 1 0.1% haverhill district 1 0.1% holyoke district 1 0.1% newburyport district 1 0.1% northampton district 1 0.1% orleans district 1 0.1% peabody district 1 0.1% salem district 1 0.1% waltham district 1 0.1% wareham district 1 0.1% westfield district 1 0.1% worcester district 1 0.1% wrentham district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 619 8 Natural Person 168 779 Total 787 787 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 78.7% 1.0% Natural Person 21.3% 99.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 611 8 619 Optional 89 79 168 Total 700 87 787 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 77.6% 1.0% 78.7% Optional 11.3% 10.0% 21.3% Total 88.9% 11.1% 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 8 8 Optional 2 777 779 Total 2 785 787 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 1.0% 1.0% Optional 0.3% 98.7% 99.0% Total 0.3% 99.7% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 38 4.8% 1 627 79.7% 2 100 12.7% 3 16 2.0% 4 4 0.5% 5 1 0.1% 10 1 0.1% Total 787 100.0% 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 563 71.5% Cause 132 16.8% No Fault 84 10.7% Foreclosure 6 0.8% Unknown/Other 2 0.3% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Fall River 48 43 Chestnut Hill 47 1 West Dennis 45 1 Brighton 43 19 Marstons Mills 41 2 Chelsea 34 12 East Falmouth 34 2 Hardwick 33 1 Malden 33 20 Provincetown 33 1 Stoughton 33 9 Lanesborough 32 1 Marlborough 31 12 Bourne 30 6 Braintree 30 11 Pittsfield 29 13 Lynn 28 26 North Billerica 28 3 Rockport 28 2 East Boston 27 11 Brockton 26 25 Abington 25 4 Dedham 24 6 Quincy 23 22 Southbridge 23 4 Worcester 23 43 Westborough 21 4 Dorchester 20 19 Hull 19 2 Nantucket 19 2 Revere 19 10 West Yarmouth 18 1 Athol 17 2 New Bedford 17 17 South Yarmouth 17 2 Chatham 16 1 Weymouth 16 9 Franklin 15 5 Medway 15 2 Newbury 15 1 Randolph 15 5 Hyannis 14 2 Hyde Park 14 5 Brookline 13 8 Cohasset 13 1 Hingham 13 3 Mattapan 13 5 Wareham 13 3 Westminster 13 1 Medford 12 7 Middleborough 12 3 North Grafton 12 1 Plainville 12 1 Adams 11 1 Blackstone 11 1 Charlestown 11 2 Chelmsford 11 4 Allston 10 3 Beverly 10 4 North Chelmsford 10 1 Roslindale 10 3 Sturbridge 10 1 Taunton 10 6 Attleborough 9 4 Leicester 9 1 Leominster 9 4 Lunenburg 9 1 Belmont 8 2 Carver 8 1 Dorchester Center 8 8 Framingham 8 6 Mansfield 8 2 Plymouth 8 5 Roxbury 8 5 South Boston 8 3 Spencer 8 1 Billerica 7 3 Clinton 7 1 Fitchburg 7 3 Milford 7 2 Millbury 7 1 North Adams 7 1 Raynham 7 1 Somerville 7 6 Wayland 7 1 Belchertown 6 1 Hopkinton 6 1 Natick 6 2 Roxbury Crossing 6 4 Westport 6 1 Whitman 6 1 Hudson 5 1 Jamaica Plain 5 2 Rockland 5 1 South Hadley 5 1 South Weymouth 5 3 Acton 4 1 Canton 4 1 East Wareham 4 1 Gardner 4 1 Lowell 4 5 North Dartmouth 4 1 Reading 4 1 Stoneham 4 1 Wakefield 4 1 Walpole 4 1 Andover 3 1 Bridgewater 3 1 Cambridge 3 4 Marshfield 3 1 Northampton 3 1 Peabody 3 2 Saugus 3 1 West Roxbury 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Boston 2 13 E. Boston 2 1 Holyoke 2 1 Salem 2 1 Westfield 2 1 Woburn 2 1 Chicopee 1 1 East Weymouth 1 1 Haverhill 1 1 North Weymouth 1 1 Springfield 1 2 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 206 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 Plymouth 118 51 Norfolk 102 87 Berkshire 99 16 Barnstable 93 18 Bristol 91 75 Worcester 65 73 Suffolk 63 126 Nantucket 56 2 Middlesex 36 85 Essex 35 39 Hampshire 16 3 Hampden 7 5 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. 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/.