Evictions, large owners, and serial filings: findings from Atlanta

Evictions cause substantial harm to lower-income families and neighborhoods. We find that eviction filings include many ‘serial filings’, in which landlords file repeatedly on the same tenant. We analyze serial and nonserial filing rates at the property level, and the share of a property’s filings that are serial filings. Regressions on building, location, and neighborhood characteristics reveal factors associated with higher serial and nonserial filing rates and serial share. We find that the largest owners and larger buildings tend to have high serial shares. When looking at nonserial filings, which are more likely to result in tenant displacement, neighborhood race is a strong independent predictor; properties in Black neighborhoods have substantially higher nonserial filing rates, other things equal. Another key result is that sales in the prior three years have a significant, nontrivial positive effect on the nonserial filing rate, so that property turnover is a significant predictor of rising evictions. We discuss implications for policy and further research.