Dwellings of Malcolm Archbald SMITH
[Ref. S.1]
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The purchase
When Malcolm and Brenda became engaged, they started to plan where they would live. The couple had often visited Brenda's sister where she lived at Mudeford near Christchurch. They had taken a liking to the area and thought they might choose somewhere in the district. They had discussed what type of house they would look for and that was a cottage in the country. Their reasoning for this was that the ultimate aim would be to retire to such a place, therefore why wait? Move into a cottage from the start and stay there.
They started to look but had difficulty in finding anything that suited their taste or budget. In 1964 they looked seriously at the middle cottage of a terrace of three in Bransgore near Christchurch. This was set in a gravel cul-de-sac and had the advantage of a separate building plot. Malcolm had the vision of building a new property himself then selling it to pay for the cottage. The negotiations dragged on and as the choice was not really ideal, they backed out.
Malcolm also started to plan for the expense of buying their home by taking out an endowment assurance to cover the mortgage when it was required. This was done with the Australian Mutual Provident Society, however, when Malcolm later came to convert the policy, the company would not honour it, so Malcolm cancelled it immediately.
Various Eastate Agents continued to send particulars of various properties, none of which raised enough interest for Malcolm and Brenda to visit. Malcolm then made a tour of the West Country to search for likely places but found none so he and Brenda decided to concentrate on the area around Christchurch. Eventually they a selection of properties around Verwood in Dorset to consider, so the couple went down to look. They had one particular set of details which did catch their attention. It said "An interesting old cottage in village centre".
They took a look at the cottage and it appealed to them despite it being in need of some work. The Estate Agents particulars had stated that the property was in good order but this was at odds with fact. Malcolm went to inspect the place fully after work on 23 June in 1965. Having driven down from Chiswick, he found the key where the agent had left it on a beam in the porch. He could immediately see that the building sloped in it's length and from front to back. The gable wall to the living room had been rebuilt recently. In the garden was an old corrugated iron chemical toilet. He sketched the front elevation and the floor plan on the back of the agent's particulars. The next day he wrote to the agent detailing his queries to which he received their reply by return.
Malcolm made an appointment to meet the agent on site on the morning of Saturday 3 July. However, the traffic was so bad that he missed that appointment and the office was shut. He wrote to them the next day to offer to purchase the cottage for £3,200. He followed up with a phone call on Monday. The vendor was not willing to reduce the price so Malcolm agreed to buy at the asking price of £3,500 then confirmed the conversation in another letter. However, Malcolm did manage to get the vendor to agree to widen the plot by 18" to give better access down the side of the cottage. The agents wrote to confirm the details.
The deposit was paid by an initial £50:00 on 12 July and the balance of the £3,000 was completed by 29 July. A mortgage was arranged with the Alliance Building Society. They specified certain repairs that would be necessary to enable the money to be released. Malcolm approached the Estate Agents regarding this and they negotiated a reduction of £50 from the sale price as a contribution towards the costs. The mortgage from the Alliance Building Society was £1,150 and Malcolm was loaned £2,000 by his mother for which he paid interest only. The obligatory insurance was arranged to protect the mortgage. Malcolm also contacted the local council to check that he could proceed with the repairs without the need of planning permission.
Malcolm had appointed his schoolfriend Malcolm leBas as his solicitor to handle the transfer of the property and settlement of the mortgage arrangements.
The sale was completed on Friday 23 September 1965. A few weeks later, Malcolm took his father and grandmother to see the cottage. His father, not being a practical man, was dumbfounded by the aparent neglected state of the cottage and garden.
Although Malcolm was not planning to move into the cottage immediately, he had to arrange to get the services connected.
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