Property Purchase Close delayed by Doc!

I'm in the process of trying to close an apartment purchase but it is being held up by the insurance company (life assurance) who in turn is being held up by my doctor. Apparently she has to fill in a form the insurance company have sent her. When I spoke to her secretary, she informed me that the doctor had almost 50 of these forms to fill in, hence the delay and that each form takes almost an hour to fill in! Is she being a 'drama queen' or is this a common delay. She has had the form for three weeks.

Lauren it really depends on your Dr. some will turn these forms around called PMA's in a day or two and some who do not particularly like attending to paper work let them build up and only attend to them once a week once or a fortnight. Bare in Mind your Dr is being paid a nice little earner from the Life Assurance company to fill in this form and should attend to it ASAP. keeping ringing and hassling your Dr and explain it is delaying the closure of your purchase.

50 of them seems a bit of an exaggeration , unless of course the Dr has not completed and returned any of them for weeks.

Aha! Thanks for that info. Didn't realise she was being paid for it! I can now feel justified in pushing harder! Many thanks for that info! It does sound like she hasn't filled one in for weeks and weeks!

We had a problem when we were closing our sale last May. Our doctor refused to sign the form unless there was a guarantee from the insurance company that she would be paid. We offered to pay the fee ourselves but as doctors were in dispute with some insurance companies at the time there was stalemate. We both had to go for medicals at the 11th hour. It was quite stressful. So I would advise that you firstly find out if the dispute has been resolved.

There is an ongoing dispute between Life assurance companies, and the IMO ( Irish Medical Organisation) basically Dr's are looking for higher fee's for completing PMA's and Medicals on behalf of Life Assurance Companies still ongoing AFAIK, So as a result some Dr's are refusing to complete or delaying paperwork.

Is it possible and adviseable to go to a doctor nominated by the insurance company, get them to do a medical, pay whatever it costs and be done with it?

You should try going back to the Insurance company also. They can
a) put pressure on the doc
b) decide to perform additional underwriting themselves (where they ask you supplementary questions over the phone)
c) waive the need for the PMA
d) get you to do a medical at their expense at an alternative doctor or
e) get you to do a medical with their Doctor at their HQ (for really large amounts)

Doctors get around €80 per questionnaire filled in and around €120 per medical

Life companies know which doctors are reluctant to return PMA's and will generally try and get around the problem if your doctor is on the black list