The owners of a $45 million home rumoured to have once been sought by Oprah Winfrey have launched a legal battle against a government ban preventing them selling it to a foreigner.

GoldenEye, a ten-bedroom home on ?billionaire?s row? in Tuckers Town attracted interest from high profile international names before the draconian policy came in, owner and entrepreneur Vera Rosa Marshall told Supreme Court yesterday.

However, the rule change last February which prevents Bermudians like Mrs. Marshall and husband Alan from selling houses to non-Bermudians scuppered their plan to sell the property on the international market. Now, the palatial dwelling ? which is said to be the most expensive on the Island property market ? stands empty and racking up $1million annual maintenance costs.

It has been rendered un-sellable as ?no Bermudian on earth? could afford it, argued the Marshall?s lawyer Saul Froomkin QC opening their case against the government. ?Prior to the amended policy, for the 25 years the plaintiffs have been in the (property development) business, if you had a property above the Annual Rental Value fixed by the government you could sell to to who you wanted,? he said.

?Simply out of the clear blue sky they were told they could only sell their property to a Bermudian. It?s a joke. It virtually renders the property valueless unless they sell it for a ridiculous price like $1million.?

Mr. Froomkin said the ?unjust and unfair? policy came into force after the Marshalls had finished developing GoldenEye, and while they were in the process of advertising it.

He added that the amended rule ? which still allows non-Bermudians to sell their homes to foreigners ? was ?clearly discriminatory?.

Giving evidence, Mrs. Marshall, from Knapton Hill, Smiths, told the court that she and her venture capitalist husband had been developing properties in Tuckers Town since the 1980s and started on GoldenEye in 1997.

?I like to think that we have raised the level of property in Tuckers Town. We brought to Bermuda some of the wealthiest people in the world,? she said, naming past buyers such as Mercedes billionaire Friedrich Flick and advertising tycoon Robert Lenz. ?It?s a good thing for Bermuda to have wealthy people buy property in Tuckers Town.?

Describing GoldenEye as ?an extraordinary property in Billionaire?s Row,? she told the court that an offer in excess of $33million had been turned down in 2004 as ?we felt we could have gotten more?.

Mr. Froomkin argued that previous government policy had given the couple a ?legitimate expectation? that they would be able to sell Golden Eye to a non-Bermudian.

He explained that he was not seeking for the government to grant a licence for the property to be sold to a foreigner, but simply for his clients to be able to seek a foreign buyer and then have their case considered on its merits.

?It?s not as if the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs has tried to justify this policy. I would have thought that if there was an overriding public interest we would have heard about it by now,? he added, calling for discretion to be used.

The case, which will see Solicitor General Wilhelm Bourne acting on behalf of the government, continues today.