> I was talking about my agent. They got paid all sorts of money for
> signing me up to things; I think the actual house sale is more or less
> moot from their point of view.

Really? They normally charge about 1% of the value of the property, I 
can't imagine their commission on selling you insurance, solicitor etc 
is anywhere near that. Given your house insurance is probably something 
like £150, their commission can surely only be £10 or something. Maybe a 
bit more for the solictor, but we're still probably talking way under £100.

> Every time I call them, I just get "We're waiting for the other side. We
> have no idea what's taking them so long."

"Please can you find out what's taking them so long. I'll call back in 
the morning."

> Only after I hassled my estate
> agent did it come to light that forms have gone missing in the mail.
> (Again, assuming you actually believe this story is true...)

I would treat anything you hear from an estate agent, especially when 
they're not even working for you, with a huge mountain of salt.

> I haven't got *time* to babysit them every tiny step of the way. I'm
> paying *them* to sort this stuff out! I'm supposed to be at work, working.

Find a better solicitor then - I assume you asked about and got 
recommendations for the one you are using ... oh wait hang on :-)

> And the seller doesn't even
> have a place to go yet,

In this situation it's completely normal to only allow the seller a few 
weeks to find somewhere before you retract your offer. Tell your 
solicitor they've got 3 weeks to have an offer accepted on something 
before you're done with this. Once your solicitor senses a risk of 
losing their fee they will work a little harder :-)

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