Filings Week Ending 2023 May 06

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-04-30 Search Period End: 2023-05-06 Earliest Case: 2023-05-01 Latest Case: 2023-05-05 Total Cases: 741 Total Transfers: 29 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 28.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 56.9% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Baldwinville Least stable with 10+ filings: Fall River Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Berkshire Cases per day: 123 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 eastern 149 20.1% northeast 148 20.0% central 116 15.7% western 105 14.2% southeast 69 9.3% metro_south 49 6.6% pittsfield district 11 1.5% quincy district 7 0.9% lynn district 6 0.8% bmc west roxbury 5 0.7% brockton district 5 0.7% haverhill district 5 0.7% barnstable district 4 0.5% chelsea district 4 0.5% concord district 4 0.5% fall river district 4 0.5% lawrence district 4 0.5% waltham district 4 0.5% wrentham district 4 0.5% malden district 3 0.4% northern berkshire district 3 0.4% peabody district 3 0.4% somerville district 3 0.4% stoughton district 3 0.4% attleboro district 2 0.3% cambridge district 2 0.3% framingham district 2 0.3% holyoke district 2 0.3% new bedford district 2 0.3% orleans district 2 0.3% taunton district 2 0.3% bmc dorchester 1 0.1% dedham district 1 0.1% hingham district 1 0.1% lowell district 1 0.1% milford district 1 0.1% orange district 1 0.1% springfield district 1 0.1% westfield district 1 0.1% woburn district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 532 1 Natural Person 209 740 Total 741 741 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 71.8% 0.1% Natural Person 28.2% 99.9% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 523 9 532 Optional 90 119 209 Total 613 128 741 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 70.6% 1.2% 71.8% Optional 12.1% 16.1% 28.2% Total 82.7% 17.3% 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 7 733 740 Total 7 734 741 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% Optional 0.9% 98.9% 99.9% Total 0.9% 99.1% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 35 4.7% 1 564 76.1% 2 113 15.2% 3 23 3.1% 4 4 0.5% 5 1 0.1% 6 1 0.1% Total 741 100.0% 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 526 71.0% Cause 109 14.7% No Fault 98 13.2% Foreclosure 8 1.1% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Baldwinville 105 2 Vineyard Haven 52 1 North Truro 49 1 Chestnut Hill 47 1 Wrentham 45 5 Eastham 40 2 Ashland 36 6 Rockland 34 6 Fall River 33 30 Fiskdale 32 1 Jamaica Plain 32 12 Marlborough 31 12 Roslindale 31 9 Dorchester 30 28 Framingham 29 20 Lunenburg 29 3 Maynard 29 3 North Adams 29 4 Pittsfield 29 13 Whitinsville 28 2 Norton 26 5 Stoughton 25 7 Edgartown 24 1 Fitchburg 24 10 Southbridge 23 4 Middleton 22 2 Randolph 21 7 Hopkinton 20 3 Westwood 20 3 Chicopee 19 11 Hadley 19 1 Hull 19 2 Manchester 19 1 Warren 19 1 Bridgewater 18 5 Haverhill 18 11 Athol 17 2 Charlestown 17 3 Foxborough 17 3 Peabody 17 9 South Yarmouth 17 2 Spencer 17 2 Worcester 17 32 Hopedale 16 1 Newton Upper Falls 16 1 Springfield 16 26 Lynn 15 14 Chelsea 14 5 Dalton 14 1 Great Barrington 14 1 Canton 13 3 New Bedford 13 13 Quincy 13 12 Revere 13 7 West Boylston 13 1 Georgetown 12 1 Holyoke 12 5 Medford 12 7 Westport 12 2 Adams 11 1 Blackstone 11 1 Brockton 11 11 Douglas 11 1 Sutton 11 1 Webster 11 2 Cambridge 10 11 Hudson 10 2 Acushnet 9 1 Gardner 9 2 Indian Orchard 9 1 Somerville 9 7 West Roxbury 9 3 Dudley 8 1 Feeding Hills 8 1 Harwich 8 1 Centerville 7 1 Clinton 7 1 East Boston 7 3 East Bridgewater 7 1 Holliston 7 1 Hyannis 7 1 Ipswich 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Leominster 7 3 Mashpee 7 1 Medway 7 1 North Easton 7 1 Northborough 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Raynham 7 1 Salem 7 3 Seekonk 7 1 Swampscott 7 1 Taunton 7 4 West Springfield 7 2 Westfield 7 3 Allston 6 2 Andover 6 2 Belchertown 6 1 Easthampton 6 1 Lawrence 6 5 Methuen 6 3 Norwood 6 2 Roxbury 6 4 Swansea 6 1 Waltham 6 4 Whitman 6 1 Beverly 5 2 Braintree 5 2 Grafton 5 1 Hyde Park 5 2 Marblehead 5 1 Acton 4 1 Arlington 4 2 Belmont 4 1 Boston 4 28 Everett 4 2 Hingham 4 1 Mansfield 4 1 North Dartmouth 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Brookline 3 2 Danvers 3 1 Dorchester Center 3 3 Melrose 3 1 Needham 3 1 North Attleborough 3 1 Roxbury Crossing 3 2 Saugus 3 1 Wellesley 3 1 Weymouth 3 2 Attleborough 2 1 Mattapan 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 Woburn 2 1 East Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 179 Lowell 0 1 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 Berkshire 123 20 Bristol 76 63 Worcester 69 77 Hampden 68 49 Plymouth 67 29 Norfolk 62 53 Suffolk 56 112 Essex 52 58 Dukes 48 2 Barnstable 46 9 Middlesex 36 86 Hampshire 16 3 Franklin 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/.