Filings Week Ending 2023 July 01

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-06-25 Search Period End: 2023-07-01 Earliest Case: 2023-06-26 Latest Case: 2023-06-30 Total Cases: 743 Total Transfers: 15 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 22.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 53.9% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Plainfield Least stable with 10+ filings: Holyoke Least stable with 100+ filings: n/a 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 northeast 153 20.6% eastern 144 19.4% central 105 14.1% western 97 13.1% metro_south 83 11.2% southeast 81 10.9% northern berkshire district 7 0.9% hingham district 5 0.7% lowell district 5 0.7% pittsfield district 5 0.7% attleboro district 4 0.5% fall river district 4 0.5% lynn district 4 0.5% malden district 4 0.5% bmc east boston 3 0.4% chelsea district 3 0.4% peabody district 3 0.4% waltham district 3 0.4% cambridge district 2 0.3% framingham district 2 0.3% haverhill district 2 0.3% newburyport district 2 0.3% palmer district 2 0.3% quincy district 2 0.3% somerville district 2 0.3% ayer district 1 0.1% barnstable district 1 0.1% bmc dorchester 1 0.1% bmc south boston 1 0.1% brockton district 1 0.1% gloucester district 1 0.1% greenfield district 1 0.1% lawrence district 1 0.1% nantucket district 1 0.1% new bedford district 1 0.1% newton district 1 0.1% salem district 1 0.1% springfield district 1 0.1% taunton district 1 0.1% westfield district 1 0.1% woburn district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 578 1 Natural Person 165 742 Total 743 743 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 77.8% 0.1% Natural Person 22.2% 99.9% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 555 23 578 Optional 76 89 165 Total 631 112 743 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 74.7% 3.1% 77.8% Optional 10.2% 12.0% 22.2% 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 6 736 742 Total 6 737 743 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% Optional 0.8% 99.1% 99.9% Total 0.8% 99.2% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 39 5.2% 1 518 69.7% 2 146 19.7% 3 29 3.9% 4 7 0.9% 5 4 0.5% Total 743 100.0% 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 570 76.7% Cause 101 13.6% No Fault 65 8.7% Foreclosure 7 0.9% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Plainfield 154 1 Nahant 117 4 Florence 105 1 Yarmouth Port 59 3 Erving 55 1 Holyoke 50 20 Chestnut Hill 47 1 Chelsea 45 16 North Adams 43 6 Bridgewater 41 11 Millis 38 3 Fitchburg 37 15 Raynham 37 5 Mashpee 35 5 East Falmouth 34 2 Tewksbury 34 10 Three Rivers 34 1 Littleton 33 3 Provincetown 33 1 Cotuit 30 1 Lowell 30 33 Buzzards Bay 29 1 Framingham 27 19 Sunderland 27 1 West Brookfield 27 1 Saugus 26 7 Pittsfield 24 11 Worcester 24 44 Cambridge 23 25 Douglas 23 2 Fall River 23 21 Foxborough 23 4 Woburn 23 9 Greenfield 22 4 Sharon 22 4 North Brookfield 21 1 Dracut 20 6 Lawrence 20 16 Marion 20 1 Needham 20 6 Ware 20 2 Whitman 20 3 Braintree 19 7 Dorchester 19 18 Hull 19 2 Mattapan 19 7 Abington 18 3 Brockton 18 17 Canton 18 4 Haverhill 18 11 Lynn 18 17 South Boston 17 6 Springfield 17 27 Ashburnham 16 1 Lee 16 1 New Bedford 16 16 Walpole 16 4 Merrimac 15 1 East Boston 14 6 Hanover 14 2 Hyannis 14 2 Stoughton 14 4 Taunton 14 8 Whitinsville 14 1 Ayer 13 1 Belchertown 13 2 Malden 13 8 Shirley 13 1 Wilmington 13 3 Amesbury 12 2 Easthampton 12 2 Georgetown 12 1 Marlborough 12 5 Medford 12 7 Williamstown 12 1 Adams 11 1 Attleborough 11 5 Charlestown 11 2 Marshfield 11 3 Roxbury 11 7 Southbridge 11 2 Chicopee 10 6 North Andover 10 3 North Attleborough 10 3 Sturbridge 10 1 Westborough 10 2 Dorchester Center 9 9 East Wareham 9 2 Gardner 9 2 Holbrook 9 1 Indian Orchard 9 1 Lakeville 9 1 Maynard 9 1 Nantucket 9 1 North Billerica 9 1 Peabody 9 5 Salem 9 4 Watertown 9 3 Winchendon 9 1 Wrentham 9 1 Groton 8 1 Lynnfield 8 1 Methuen 8 4 Palmer 8 1 Spencer 8 1 Agawam 7 2 Bedford 7 1 Billerica 7 3 East Bridgewater 7 1 Everett 7 3 North Easton 7 1 Northborough 7 1 Revere 7 4 West Springfield 7 2 Auburn 6 1 Fairhaven 6 1 Gloucester 6 2 Hopkinton 6 1 Norwood 6 2 Randolph 6 2 Swansea 6 1 Westwood 6 1 Beverly 5 2 Boston 5 34 Chelmsford 5 2 Grafton 5 1 Holden 5 1 Norton 5 1 Rockland 5 1 Roxbury Crossing 5 3 South Hadley 5 1 Webster 5 1 Winthrop 5 1 Belmont 4 1 E. Boston 4 2 Leominster 4 2 Ludlow 4 1 Mansfield 4 1 Middleborough 4 1 North Dartmouth 4 1 Quincy 4 4 Reading 4 1 Stoneham 4 1 Wakefield 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Westfield 4 2 Allston 3 1 Franklin 3 1 Natick 3 1 Northampton 3 1 Plymouth 3 2 Roslindale 3 1 Waltham 3 2 Wellesley Hills 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 Brookline 1 1 East Weymouth 1 1 South Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 25 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 Plymouth 118 51 Hampden 88 63 Barnstable 77 15 Bristol 77 64 Essex 72 80 Worcester 72 81 Middlesex 66 154 Norfolk 62 53 Suffolk 60 119 Franklin 56 6 Hampshire 54 10 Nantucket 28 1 Dukes 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/.