SECTION 9. Powers relating to real property

Public administrators may be authorized to take charge of the real property of the deceased or of any part thereof situated anywhere within the commonwealth, to lease the same, to collect the rents, and to make such repairs, and do all other things which may be considered necessary for the preservation of such real property and as a charge thereon. They may also be licensed by the probate court to sell the real property for the same purposes and in the same manner as other administrators. All laws relative to sales of land by administrators and the disposition of the proceeds shall govern such sales so far as applicable, except as otherwise provided in this chapter; provided, that the time limit imposed on sales by other administrators shall not apply to sales by public administrators, but shall be in the discretion of the court. The net proceeds of any sale after deducting the expenses thereof and other administration expenses, and such amount as may be required for the payment of debts in consequence of a deficiency in the personal property, shall, after one year from the time of the filing of the administrator's bond, except as provided in the following section, be distributed to the persons who would have been entitled to said real property in the proportions to which they would have been entitled had it not been sold.