Filings Week Ending 2023 June 17

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-06-11 Search Period End: 2023-06-17 Earliest Case: 2023-06-12 Latest Case: 2023-06-16 Total Cases: 660 Total Transfers: 8 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 31.4% Of those, percentage pro se: 51.7% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Gilbertville Least stable with 10+ filings: Fall River Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a Least stable county: Hampden Cases per day: 110 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 northeast 123 18.6% western 101 15.3% eastern 99 15.0% central 85 12.9% southeast 78 11.8% metro_south 65 9.8% fall river district 14 2.1% somerville district 10 1.5% malden district 7 1.1% lowell district 6 0.9% quincy district 6 0.9% springfield district 6 0.9% lynn district 5 0.8% bmc dorchester 4 0.6% brockton district 4 0.6% new bedford district 4 0.6% attleboro district 3 0.5% cambridge district 3 0.5% haverhill district 3 0.5% lawrence district 3 0.5% orleans district 3 0.5% pittsfield district 3 0.5% waltham district 3 0.5% bmc east boston 2 0.3% brookline district 2 0.3% chelsea district 2 0.3% milford district 2 0.3% barnstable district 1 0.2% bmc brighton 1 0.2% bmc central 1 0.2% bmc west roxbury 1 0.2% chicopee district 1 0.2% edgartown district 1 0.2% fallmouth district 1 0.2% newton district 1 0.2% peabody district 1 0.2% plymouth district 1 0.2% salem district 1 0.2% southern berkshire district 1 0.2% taunton district 1 0.2% wrentham district 1 0.2% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 453 3 Natural Person 207 657 Total 660 660 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 68.6% 0.5% Natural Person 31.4% 99.5% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 445 8 453 Optional 100 107 207 Total 545 115 660 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 67.4% 1.2% 68.6% Optional 15.2% 16.2% 31.4% Total 82.6% 17.4% 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 3 3 Optional 7 650 657 Total 7 653 660 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.5% 0.5% Optional 1.1% 98.5% 99.5% Total 1.1% 98.9% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 29 4.4% 1 468 70.9% 2 138 20.9% 3 20 3.0% 4 2 0.3% 7 2 0.3% 9 1 0.2% Total 660 100.0% 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 403 61.1% Cause 130 19.7% No Fault 122 18.5% Foreclosure 4 0.6% Unknown/Other 1 0.2% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Gilbertville 86 1 West Yarmouth 56 3 Wales 54 1 Baldwinville 52 1 Fall River 47 42 Holyoke 45 18 Greenfield 40 7 Randolph 40 13 Hull 38 4 West Barnstable 35 1 East Falmouth 34 2 Fiskdale 32 1 Berkley 31 2 Dennis Port 31 1 Ware 30 3 Indian Orchard 29 3 Princeton 29 1 East Sandwich 28 1 North Billerica 28 3 Northborough 28 4 Osterville 28 1 Whitman 27 4 Haverhill 26 16 Chicopee 25 14 Lynn 25 23 Newton Center 25 1 Brockton 24 23 Burlington 24 6 Edgartown 24 1 Foxborough 23 4 Marlborough 23 9 Springfield 23 36 Avon 22 1 Forestdale 22 1 Oak Bluffs 22 1 Rockland 22 4 Hyde Park 20 7 Pittsfield 20 9 Peabody 19 10 Worcester 18 34 Fitchburg 17 7 Leominster 17 7 Pepperell 17 2 Webster 17 3 Chatham 16 1 Harwich 16 2 Taunton 16 9 Bedford 15 2 Brighton 15 7 Dorchester 15 14 Ipswich 15 2 New Bedford 15 15 Dighton 14 1 Great Barrington 14 1 Hyannis 14 2 Lawrence 14 11 Lowell 14 15 Milford 14 4 Oxford 14 2 Somerville 14 11 Stoughton 14 4 West Springfield 14 4 Wilbraham 14 2 Malden 13 8 Shirley 13 1 West Boylston 13 1 Plainville 12 1 Reading 12 3 Salem 12 5 Adams 11 1 Assonet 11 1 Dorchester Center 10 10 Medford 10 6 Methuen 10 5 North Andover 10 3 North Attleborough 10 3 North Chelmsford 10 1 Southborough 10 1 Holbrook 9 1 Lakeville 9 1 Lunenburg 9 1 Carver 8 1 Chelmsford 8 3 Dudley 8 1 Lynnfield 8 1 Palmer 8 1 Quincy 8 8 South Yarmouth 8 1 Spencer 8 1 Waltham 8 5 Agawam 7 2 Amherst 7 3 Beverly 7 3 Danvers 7 2 Everett 7 3 Melrose 7 2 Revere 7 4 Saugus 7 2 Woburn 7 3 Allston 6 2 Amesbury 6 1 Auburn 6 1 Brookline 6 4 Gloucester 6 2 Tewksbury 6 2 Charlestown 5 1 Framingham 5 4 Grafton 5 1 Roxbury 5 3 Sharon 5 1 South Hadley 5 1 South Weymouth 5 3 Westborough 5 1 Winthrop 5 1 Acton 4 1 Arlington 4 2 Attleborough 4 2 Belmont 4 1 Cambridge 4 5 E. Boston 4 2 East Boston 4 2 Gardner 4 1 Walpole 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Westfield 4 2 Andover 3 1 Boston 3 24 Bridgewater 3 1 Dracut 3 1 East Weymouth 3 2 Falmouth 3 1 Needham 3 1 Norwood 3 1 Wellesley Hills 3 1 Weymouth 3 2 Braintree 2 1 Mattapan 2 1 Newton 2 2 South Boston 2 1 Plymouth 1 1 Roxbury Crossing 1 1 (not given) 0 26 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 Hampden 116 83 Plymouth 92 40 Bristol 91 75 Barnstable 88 17 Essex 79 87 Berkshire 68 11 Franklin 66 7 Worcester 66 74 Norfolk 57 49 Dukes 48 2 Middlesex 43 102 Suffolk 40 80 Hampshire 38 7 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/.