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(5) purchase at any sale, public or private, upon such terms and for such prices as the Administrator determines to be reasonable, and take title to, property, real, personal or mixed; and similarly sell, at public or private sale, exchange, assign, convey, or otherwise dispose of any such property; and

(6) complete, administer, operate, obtain and pay for insurance on, and maintain, renovate, repair, modernize, lease, or otherwise deal with any property acquired or held pursuant to this chapter. The acquisition of any such property shall not deprive any State or political subdivision thereof of its civil or criminal jurisdiction of, on, or over such property (including power to tax) or impair the rights under the State or local law of any persons on such property. Without regard to section 3617, Revised Statutes (31 U.S.C. 484), or any other provision of law not expressly in limitation of this paragraph, the Administrator may permit brokers utilized by the Administrator in connection with such properties to deduct from rental collections amounts covering authorized fees, costs, and expenses incurred in connection with the management, repair, sale, or lease of any such properties and remit the net balances to the Administrator. (Amended P.L. 88-151, § 1; P.L. 89-625; P.L. 91-606, § 233 (1); P.L. 92-328, § 205; P.L. 94-324, §7(24), (25); P.L. 95-117, $ 403 (a).)

(b) The powers granted by this section may be exercised by the Administrator without regard to any other provision of law not enacted expressly in limitation of this section, which otherwise would govern the expenditure of public funds; however, section 5 of title 41 shall apply to any contract for services or supplies on account of any property acquired pursuant to this section if the amount of such contract exceeds $1,000.

(c) The financial transactions of the Administrator incident to, or arising out of, the guaranty or insurance of loans pursuant to this chapter, and the acquisition, management, and disposition of property, real, personal, or mixed, incident to such activities and pursuant to this section, shall be final and conclusive upon all officers of the Government.

(d) The right to redeem provided for by section 2410 (c) of title 28 shall not arise in any case in which the subordinate lien or interest of the United States derives from a guaranteed or insured loan.

(e) (1) The Administrator is authorized from time to time, as the Administrator determines advisable, to set aside first mortgage loans, and installment sale contracts, owned and held by the Administrator under this chapter as the basis for the sale of participation certificates as herein provided. For this purpose the Administrator may enter into agreements, including trust agreements, with the Government National Mortgage Association, and any other Federal agency, under which the Association as fiduciary may sell certificates of participation based on principal and interest collections to be received by the Administrator and the Association or any other such agency on first mortgage loans and installment sale contracts comprising mortgage pools established by them. The agreement may provide for substitution or withdrawal of mortgage loans, or installment sale contracts, or for

substitution of cash for mortgages in the pool. The agreement shall provide that the Government National Mortgage Association shall promptly pay to the Administrator the entire proceeds of any sale of certificates of participation to the extent such certificates are based on mortgages, including installment sale contracts, set aside by the Administrator and the Administrator shall periodically pay to the Association, as fiduciary, such funds as are required for payment of interest and principal due on outstanding certificates of participation to the extent of the pro rata amount allocated to the Administrator pursuant to the agreement. The agreement shall also provide that the Administrator shall retain ownership of mortgage loans and installment sale contracts set aside by the Administrator pursuant to the agreement unless transfer of ownership to the fiduciary is required in the event of default or probable default in the payment of participation certificates. The Administrator is authorized to purchase outstanding certificates of participation to the extent of the amount of the Administrator's commitment to the fiduciary on participations outstanding and to pay the Administrator's proper share of the costs and expenses incurred by the Government National Mortgage Association as fiduciary pursuant to the agreement.

(2) The Administrator shall proportionately allocate and deposit the entire proceeds received from the sale of participations into the funds established pursuant to section 1823 and 1824 of this chapter, as determined on an estimated basis, and the amounts so deposited shall be available for the purposes of the funds. The Administrator may nevertheless make such allocations of that part of the proceeds of participation sales representing anticipated interest collections on mortgage loans, including installment sale contracts, on other than an estimated proportionate basis if determined necessary to assure payment of interest on advances theretofore made to the Administrator by the Secretary of the Treasury for direct loan purposes. The Administrator shall set aside and maintain necessary reserves in the funds established pursuant to section 1823 and 1824 of this chapter to be used for meeting commitments pursuant to this subsection and, as the Administrator determines to be necessary, for meeting interest payments on advances by the Secretary of the Treasury for direct loan purposes.1 (Added P.L. 88-560, § 701 (e) (1); amended P.L. 90-448, § 807 (h); P.L. 94-324, § 7(26).)

(f) Whenever loss, destruction, or damage to any residential property securing loans guaranteed, insured, made, or acquired by the Administrator under this chapter occurs as the result of a major disaster as determined by the President under the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, the Administrator shall (1) provide counseling and such other service to the owner of such property as may be feasible and shall inform such owner concerning the disaster assistance available from

1 Sec. 6. Public Law 89-429 as amended by sec. 807(g), Public Law 90-448 provides: "(a) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to repeal or modify the provisions of section 1820 (e) of title 38, United States Code, respecting the authority of the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs."

(b) After June 30, 1966, no department or agency listed in section 302 (c) (2) of the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act may sell any obligation held by it except as provided in section 302(c) of that Act, or as approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, except that this prohibition shall not apply to the Government National Mortgage Association."

other Federal agencies and from State or local agencies, and (2) pursuant to subsection (a) (2) of this section, extend on an individual case basis such forbearance or indulgence to such owner as the Administrator determines to be warranted by the facts of the case and the circumstances of such owner. (Added P.L. 89-769, § 3(c); amended P.L. 91-606, § 233 (2); P.L. 93–288, § 602 (1).)

§ 1821. Incontestability

Any evidence of guaranty or insurance issued by the Administrator shall be conclusive evidence of the eligibility of the loan for guaranty or insurance under the provisions of this chapter and of the amount of such guaranty or insurance. Nothing in this section shall preclude the Administrator from establishing, as against the original lender, defenses based on fraud or material misrepresentation. The Administrator shall not, by reason of anything contained in this section, be barred from establishing, by regulations in force at the date of such issuance or disbursement, whichever is the earlier, partial defenses to the amount payable on the guaranty or insurance.

§1823. Direct loan revolving fund

(a) For the purposes of section 1811 of this title, the revolving fund theretofore established by section 513 of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 is continued in effect. For the purposes of further augmenting the revolving fund, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to advance to the Administrator from time to time after December 31, 1958, and until June 30, 1961, such sums (not in excess of $150,000,000 in any one fiscal year, including prior advancements in fiscal year 1959) as the Administrator may request, except that the aggregate so advanced in any one quarter annual period shall not exceed the sum of $50,000,000, less that amount which has been returned to the revolving fund during the preceding quarter annual period from the sale of loans pursuant to section 1811(g) of this title. In addition to the sums authorized in this subsection the Secretary of the Treasury shall also advance to the Administrator such additional sums, not in excess of $100,000,000, as the Administrator may request, and the sums so advanced shall be made available without regard to any limitation contained in this subsection with respect to the amount which may be advanced in any one quarter annual period. The Secretary of the Treasury shall also advance to the Administrator from time to time such additional sums as the Administrator may request, not in excess of $100,000,000 to be immediately available, plus an additional amount not in excess of $400,000,000 after June 30, 1961, plus $200,000,000 after June 30, 1962, plus $150,000,000 after June 30, 1963, plus $150,000,000 after June 30, 1964, plus $100,000,000 after June 30, 1965, plus $100,000,000 after June 30, 1966. Any such authorized advance which is not requested by the Administrator in the fiscal year in which the advance may be made shall be made thereafter when requested by the Administrator, except that no such request or advance may be made after June 30, 1967. Such authorized advances are not subject to the quarter annual limitation in the second sentence of this subsection, but the amount authorized to be advanced in any fiscal year after June 30, 1962, shall be reduced only by the amount which has been returned to the revolving fund

during the preceding fiscal year from the sale of loans pursuant to section 1811(g) of this title. In addition the Secretary is authorized and directed to make available to the Administrator for this purpose from time to time as the Administrator may request the amount of any funds which may have been deposited to the credit of miscellaneous receipts under this subsection or subsection (c) of this section. (Amended P.L. 86-73, § 4; P.L. 86-665, § 4(a); P.L. 87-84, § 3(a); P.L. 88-560, § 701 (e) (2); P.L. 94-324, §§ 6(1), 7(27).)

(b) On advances to such revolving fund by the Secretary of the Treasury, less those amounts deposited in miscellaneous receipts under subsections (a) and (c) the Administrator shall pay semiannually to the Treasurer of the United States interest at the rate or rates determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, taking into consideration the current average rate on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States as of the last day of the month preceding the advance. The Administrator shall not be required to pay interest on transfers made pursuant to the Act of February 13, 1962 (76 Stat. 8), from the capital of the "direct loans to veterans and reserves revolving fund" to the "loan guaranty revolving fund" and adjustments shall be made for payments of interest on such transfers before the date of enactment of this sentence. (Amended P.L. 88-274.)

(c) In order to make advances to such revolving fund, as authorized by law to effectuate the purposes and functions authorized in section 1811 of this title, the Secretary of the Treasury may use, as a public debt transaction, the proceeds of the sale of any securities issued under the Second Liberty Bond Act, and the purposes for which securities may be issued under the Second Liberty Bond Act include such purposes. Such sums, together with all receipts under this section and section 1811 of this title, shall be deposited with the Treasurer of the United States, in a special deposit account, and shall be available, respectively, for disbursement for the purposes of section 1811 of this title. Except as otherwise provided in subsection (a) of this section, the Administrator shall from time to time cause to be deposited into the Treasury of the United States, to the credit of miscellaneous receipts, such of the funds in such account as in the Administrator's judgment are not needed for the purposes for which they were provided, including the proceeds of the sale of any loans. (Amended P.L. 86-665, § 4(b); P.L. 87-84, § 3(b); P.L. 88-560, § 701, (e) (2); P.L. 94-324, §§ 6(2), 7(27).)

§ 1824. Loan guaranty revolving fund

(a) There is hereby established in the Treasury of the United States a revolving fund known as the Veterans' Administration Loan Guaranty Revolving Fund (hereinafter called the Fund). (Added P.L. 86-665, §7(a).)

(b) The Fund shall be available to the Administrator when so provided in appropriation Acts and within such limitations as may be included in such Acts, without fiscal year limitation, for all loan guaranty and insurance operations under this chapter, except administrative expenses. (Added P.L. 86-665, § 7(a).)

(c) There shall be deposited in the Fund (1) by transfer from current and future appropriations for readjustment benefits such

amounts as may be necessary to supplement the Fund in order to meet the requirements of the Fund, and (2) all amounts now held or hereafter received by the Administrator incident to loan guaranty and insurance operations under this chapter, including but not limited to all collections of principal and interest and the proceeds from the use of property held or the sale of property disposed of. (Added P.L. 86-665, §7(a).)

(d) The Administrator shall determine annually whether there has developed in such Fund a surplus which, in the Administrator's judgment, is more than necessary to meet the needs of the Fund, and such surplus, if any, shall immediately be transferred into the general fund receipts of the Treasury. (Added P.L. 86-665, § 7(a); amended P.L. 94-324, § 7(28).)

§ 1825. Waiver of discharge requirements for hospitalized persons

The benefits of this chapter may be afforded to any person who is hospitalized pending final discharge from active duty, if said person is qualified therefor in every respect except for discharge. (Amended P.L. 94-324, § 7(29).)

§ 1826. Withholding of payments, benefits, etc.

(a) The Administrator shall not, unless the Administrator first obtains the consent in writing of an individual, set off against, or otherwise withhold from, such individual any benefits payable to such individual under any law administered by the Veterans' Administration because of liability allegedly arising out of any loan made to, assumed by, or guaranteed or insured on account of, such individual under this chapter. (Added P.L. 89–358, § 5(f)(1); amended P.L. 94-324, §7(30).)

(b) No officer, employee, department, or agency of the United States shall set off against, or otherwise withhold from, any veteran or the surviving spouse of any veteran any payments (other than benefit payments under any law administered by the Veterans' Administration) which such veteran or surviving spouse would otherwise be entitled to receive because of any liability to the Administrator allegedly arising out of any loan made to, assumed by, or guaranteed or insured on account of, such veteran or surviving spouse under this chapter, unless (1) there is first received the consent in writing of such veteran or surviving spouse, as the case may be, or (2) such liability and the amount thereof was determined by a court of competent jurisdiction in a proceeding to which such veteran or surviving spouse was a party. (Added P.L. 89-358, § 5(f) (1); amended P.L. 94-324, $7 (30).)

§1827. Expenditures to correct or compensate for structural defects in mortgaged homes

(a) The Administrator is authorized, with respect to any property improved by a one- to four-family dwelling inspected during construction by the Veterans' Administration or the Federal Housing Administration which the Administrator finds to have structural defects seriously affecting the livability of the property, to make expenditures for (1) correcting such defects, (2) paying the claims of

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