211.109—Contract of sale.
Upon determination of the price at which the land will be reconveyed, and after the reaching of an agreement by the former owner and the abutting owner if an objection to the reconveyance was made by the abutting owner, the appropriate District Engineer will prepare a contract of sale containing the terms and conditions of the reconveyance and deliver it to the applicant for acceptance. The contract of sale shall provide for the deposit of earnest money equal to twenty (20) percent of the price at which the land will be sold or the estimated cost of any surveys or boundary markings necessary as an incident to the reconveyance, whichever is greater. The deposit will be applied to the price at the time of settlement. In the event of default, the deposit will be retained by the Government as liquidated damages. Failure of the applicant to execute the contract of sale or to deposit the earnest money with the appropriate District Engineer within thirty (30) days after receipt of the contract, unless a written extension of said thirty (30) days is granted by the appropriate District Engineer, in accordance with section 205(e) of the Act of Congress approved July 3, 1958 (72 Stat. 316) or in accordance with section 11 of the Act of Congress approved December 23, 1971 (85 Stat. 800) and the delegation contained in § 211.111, that within a reasonable time after receipt of a proper application for any reconveyance of such land, the parties have been unable to reach a satisfactory agreement with respect to the reconveyance of such land. Authority is hereby delegated to the Chief of Engineers and/or the appropriate District Engineer to execute the contract of sale for and on behalf of the United States of America.