United Bermuda Party MP Maxwell Burgess agreed to sell a house to a young couple then “sold it from underneath them” to his nephew, Supreme Court heard yesterday.

Dawn and Amon Brown are suing Mr. Burgess for alleged breach of contract because they claim he agreed to sell them the house in Longridge Pass, Devonshire, but the deal fell through because he reneged on a pledge to give them a deposit to help them get a mortgage from the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC).

Mr. Burgess, the Opposition House Whip, then sold the house to his nephew Jamal Burgess, who argues he is the legitimate owner of the property.

The Browns are also suing Jamal Burgess, claiming he had “constructive notice” - meaning he did not make sufficient inquiries before buying the house.

The Browns, who still live in the house, are trying to force the MP to either honour his alleged promise from June, 1999, to sell the house or to get him to pay damages based on the improved value of the house.

Mrs. Brown said they met Maxwell Burgess when he was campaigning for the UBP in the 1998 General Election and he told them he “likes helping young blacks”.

The MP contacted them again ten months later to say he had a property for them and he promised to lend them a ten percent ($26,500) deposit so they could get a 90 percent BHC mortgage to buy the house from him, said Mrs Brown.

After they worked on the house for three months until October, 1999, they agreed to pay Mr. Burgess $1,500 a month rent for five months to prove to BHC that they could afford to pay a mortgage.

Although the Browns signed a sale agreement with Mr. Burgess's solicitor - which Mr. Burgess did not sign - the sale could not go through because the MP did not send a letter to BHC confirming he would provide the deposit, said Mrs. Brown, a self-employed tiler.

The Browns carried out a lot of work on the house at below market rates to upgrade it, which Mr. Burgess would deduct from the rent they were paying, she said. And she alleged Mr. Burgess never paid her on time or was short in his payments.

Although the MP did provide many of the materials to improve the house, he reneged on promises to replace the windows, landscape the yard and paint the outside, said Mrs Brown.

Kieron Unwin, the lawyer for the Browns, told Mr. Justice Philip Storr: “The first defendant (Maxwell Burgess) agreed to provide a ten percent deposit because they would go to BHC for the 90 percent.

“He failed to provide confirmation of that ten percent and he was in breach. He never repudiated the agreement to sell (with the Browns) and the property was sold from underneath us.”

Mrs Brown said she was frank with Mr. Burgess that she had no money for a deposit, and the MP was very clear he would provide the deposit.

She said the only reason she and her family moved into the run-down house from another nicer apartment they were renting in Warwick was because Mr. Burgess had agreed to sell it to them.

Mrs. Brown denied a suggestion from Mr. Burgess's lawyer Llewellyn Peniston that she and her husband had plenty of time to complete the purchase of the house, but they decided not to.

“We told BHC that Maxwell Burgess would provide the deposit but they needed a letter from Mr. Burgess. That was the only thing that held us up,” said Mrs Brown.

In January last year, the Browns became so frustrated that the sale was not proceeding that they withheld rent.

In May last year, said Mr. Unwin, they received a letter from Jamal Burgess saying he was the owner of the house and instructing them to quit.

Mr. Unwin said Maxwell Burgess, who was in court but did not give evidence, told the Browns they “no longer wished to agree to buy the property”, which, said Mr. Unwin, “admits there was an agreement to sell”.

Magistrates' Court has ordered the Browns to pay the rent to the court until the dispute over ownership is resolved and the Browns admit they are in arrears in their payments.

Lawyer Larry Scott, acting for Jamal Burgess, asked Mrs. Brown why she did not get all of the verbal agreements with Maxwell Burgess put in writing in the sale agreement she signed.

“We trusted Mr. (Maxwell) Burgess and with hindsight we wished we hadn't. We wished we would have got everything in writing,” said Mrs Brown. The cases continues today.