one possible reason I can think of that the previous owner may have intentionally cut the brakes is if the break away switch was activated and he had no way to turn it off (i.e. lost the laynard and the piece that plugs into the frame).
The breakaway switch is normally mounted on the street side tongue frame and connects to the Tow Vehicle with a twisted steel laynard. If the trailer were for some reason to "pop" off of the hitch as the trailer begins to slow down (rapidly in most cases) the Tow vehicle drives on and the Lanyard pulls the plug from the breakaway device. This causes the electric brakes to be applied as long as the battery has a charge. Removing the main battery fuse would be my perfered way of getting around this problem vice cutting the brake wires but I have not looked as a wiring diagram. It is possible that even without the battery the TV might provide power to the breaks via the Bargman plug.
Bottom line, check your breakaway switch. If that is missing repairing your brake wires could generate another problem for you.
Bill
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