(a) The mortgagor is responsible for making those investigations, analyses and inspections it deems necessary for protecting its interests in the property.

(b) Any appraisals, inspections, environmental assessments, and technical or financial evaluations conducted by or for the Commissioner are performed to determine the maximum insurable mortgage, and to protect the Commissioner and the FHA insurance funds. Such appraisals, inspections, assessments and evaluations neither create nor imply a duty or obligation from HUD to the mortgagor, or to any other party, and are not to be regarded as a warranty by HUD to the mortgagor, or any other party, of the value or condition of the property.

(c) For all new construction as well as structural repairs and/or renovations of existing properties, to the extent that an inspection is required to determine if construction quality of a one- to four-unit property is acceptable as security for an FHA-insured loan, the following requirements apply:

(1)(i) In areas where local jurisdictions provide building code enforcement and the requisite documentation, the lender shall provide a copy of:

(A) The building permit, or its equivalent, and a copy of the certificate of occupancy, or its equivalent; or

(B) A satisfactory inspection notice for work completed, or its equivalent.

(ii) The documentation provided under paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section shall be considered satisfactory evidence of completion of the work.

(2) In jurisdictions that do not provide building code enforcement and requisite documentation, three inspections are required for new construction. For existing construction, only one inspection and certification of work completed for structural repairs and renovations is required. For both new and existing construction, the lender shall, in order to ensure compliance with FHA requirements:

(i) Select a Residential Combination Inspector (or its successor designation) or a Combination Inspector (or its successor designation) certified by the International Code Council (or its successor organization) who is licensed or certified as a home inspector in accordance with the applicable State and local requirements governing the licensing or certification of those jurisdictions that license or certify such inspectors in the respective jurisdiction. The lender shall provide a certification from such inspector that the new construction and/or structural repair or renovation work is completed satisfactorily and in compliance with any applicable building code.

(ii) In the absence of such Residential Combination Inspector and Combination Inspector, the lender shall obtain an inspection performed by a third party, who is a registered architect, a professional engineer, or a trades person or contractor, and who has met the licensing and bonding requirements of the State in which the property is located. The lender shall provide a certification from such inspector that the inspector is licensed and bonded under applicable State law, and that the new construction and/or structural repair or renovation work is completed satisfactorily and in compliance with any applicable building code.

In the event the insured lender is entitled under the contract of mortgage insurance to receive a claim settlement, the mortgagee presents a claim for insurance benefits in accordance with the Secretary's instructions.

Upon the Secretary's approval of a claim, the claim will be settled by issuance of cash, debentures or both, and, in certain cases, by issuance of a certificate of claim. However, in the event a final claim is in a negative amount, the claim will be settled by the mortgagee's payment of cash or surrender of debentures at par plus accrued interest to the Secretary.

(a) Series and fund. Debentures are issued in appropriate series and are the obligation of and issued in the name of the particular mortgage insurance fund under which the mortgage is insured.

(b) Registration and denominations. Debentures in certificated form are issued in denominations of $50, $100, $500, $1,000 and $10,000 with the name of the owner inscribed on the face of the certificate. Debentures in book entry form are issued in a minimum amount of one dollar and in increments of one cent with the name of the owner recorded in an account master record on the books of the Treasury.

(c) Rate of interest and interchangeability. Debentures carry a rate of interest prescribed by the Commissioner but not in excess of an annual rate determined by the Secretary of the Treasury in accordance with prescribed statutory formula involving yields or prices of outstanding marketable obligations of the United States. Debentures in certificated form of the same series bearing the same interest rate and having the same maturity date shall be freely interchangeable between the various authorized denominations and may be exchanged for similar debentures in book entry form. Debentures in book entry form cannot be exchanged for debentures in certificated form.

(d) Negotiability and Redemption. Debentures in certificated form are negotiable and, if in book entry form, are transferable in the manner described in applicable Treasury regulations. Debentures are fully guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States. Debentures are redeemable on call issued by the Commissioner.

(e) Payment of principal and interest. Principal and interest on debentures shall be payable when due at the Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC, or any Government agency or agencies in the United States which the Secretary of the Treasury may from time to time designate for that purpose. The principal and interest shall be payable to the owner whose name shall be inscribed on the debenture in certificated form, to the owner designated as assignee as shown by executed assignments for maturing or called certificated debentures, or to the owner whose name shall be recorded in the account master record of the book entry debentures.

(f) Transfer and use—(1) In general. Debentures in certificated form are negotiable and, if in book entry form, are transferable in the manner described in applicable Treasury regulations. They may be used by approved mortgagees in lieu of cash for payment of FHA mortgage insurance premiums.

(2) Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund debentures. Debentures of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund may be used to pay mortgage insurance premiums on mortgages insured under sections 203(b), 203(h), and 203(i), of the National Housing Act.

(3) Cooperative Management Housing Insurance Fund debentures. Debentures which are the obligation of the Cooperative Management Housing Insurance Fund may be used to pay premiums on mortgages and loans which are insured under that Fund. Where the insurance of a mortgage or loan is transferred from the General Insurance Fund to the Cooperative Management Housing Insurance Fund, or where a mortgage or loan is endorsed for insurance pursuant to a commitment transferred to the Cooperative Management Housing Insurance Fund, debentures issued in connection with such mortgage or loan may be used to pay insurance premiums of either the Cooperative Management Housing Insurance Fund or the General Insurance Fund.

(4) General Insurance Fund and debentures of other funds. Debentures of the General Insurance Fund and those debentures issued as obligations of mortgage insurance funds and accounts in existence prior to the enactment of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 (other than the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund) which are transferred by the 1965 Act to the General Insurance Fund may be used to pay mortgage insurance premiums only on the following mortgages and loans:

(i) Those which are the obligation of the General Insurance Fund.

(ii) Those transferred from the General Insurance Fund to the Cooperative Management Housing Insurance Fund.

(iii) Those endorsed for insurance pursuant to commitments transferred to the Cooperative Management Housing Insurance Fund.

The Department of the Treasury acts as fiscal agent for the Commissioner in connection with transactions and operations relating to debentures. Treasury's General Regulations Governing U.S. Securities (31 CFR part 306) and its Supplemental Regulations Governing Federal Housing Administration Debentures (31 CFR part 337) have been and are adopted as revised and amended, to the extent applicable, as the regulations of the Commissioner governing the issuance of, transactions in and redemption of debentures, including the payment of interest thereon with the following exceptions:

(a) Payment of final interest on maturing or called debentures. If the notice of maturity or call for redemption shall so provide, the final installment of interest payable on any debentures at maturity or earlier redemption date may be paid with the principal in accordance with the assignments on the debentures instead of by separate check drawn to the order of the registered payee and forwarded to him at his address of record.

(b) Closing of transfer books. If the call for redemption shall so provide, the books maintained by the Treasury Department may be closed against transfers and denominational exchanges in debentures for three full months preceding any interest payment date with respect to any debentures called for redemption on such interest payment date.

The statutes of the United States and the regulations of the Treasury Department governing relief on account of the loss, theft, destruction, mutilation or defacement of United States securities, so far as applicable and as necessarily modified to relate to debentures, are adopted as the regulations of the Commissioner for the issuance of substitute debentures or the payment of lost, stolen, destroyed, mutilated or defaced debentures.

Debentures shall, at the option of the Commissioner and with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, be redeemable at par plus accrued interest on any semiannual interest payment date on 3 months' notice of redemption given in such manner as the Commissioner shall prescribe. The debenture interest on the debentures called for redemption shall cease on the semiannual interest payment date designated in the call notice. The Commissioner may include with the notice of redemption an offer to purchase the debentures at par plus accrued interest at any time during the period between the notice of redemption and the redemption date. If the debentures are purchased by the Commissioner after such call and prior to the named redemption date, the debenture interest shall cease on the date of purchase.

The Secretary of the Treasury or the Acting Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and empowered, on behalf of the Commissioner, to administer the regulations governing any transactions and operations in debentures, to do all things necessary to conduct such transactions and operations, and to delegate such authority at his discretion to other officers, employees, and agents of the U.S. Treasury Department. At his discretion the Secretary, the Under Secretary, or any Assistant Secretary of the Treasury acting by direction of the Secretary, is authorized to waive any such regulation on behalf of the Commissioner in any particular case where a similar regulation of the Treasury Department with respect to United States bonds or interest thereon would be waived.

The certificate of claim issued to the mortgagee at the time debentures are issued constitutes an agreement by the FHA that after the FHA has recovered its investment in a particular property any excess over and above such investment is available for payment on the certificate of claim. Certificates of claim bear interest at the rate of 3 percent per annum.