Many readers sent in this BBC report on fraud in the real estate business. "An undercover investigation reveals the secret world of estate agents' dirty tricks. My boss congratulates me on getting an offer on a flat that has been overvalued by £60,000. The newly-wed young couple viewing the property are stretched to their financial limit. But my manager is happy."

"He takes me aside and explains how to convince a surveyor that the flat in London's fashionable Notting Hill is worth more than it is. He calls it 'slightly simmering,' I call it cooking the books. The scenario is not uncommon, in fact the manager himself boasts: 'This kind of s*** happens all the time, that's why we estate agents are here.'"

"Under-performers are heckled and those who have done the most deals are applauded and given champagne and £50. Young agents in Foxtons exchange high-fives as they swap tales of gazumping and over-valuing. But I can't stop thinking back to the hard-working young family who dream of getting on the property ladder and have wasted their money unnecessarily."

"According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Jon Hunt is worth £345m. I soon discovered his mortgage brokers work closely with Foxtons' agents. They openly discuss potential buyers' budgets so they can squeeze as much money out of them as possible. In another Foxtons office, lettings staff jump up and down in delight after they successfully fake a signature on an absent landlord's paperwork."

"Faking documents is something of a habit in the St John's Wood office, where Emma Clarke worked undercover in the lettings department. I was shocked when she played me her secret footage which showed staff cutting, pasting and gluing signatures onto contracts. They call it 'chop chop.'"

"When we embarked upon the investigation, I would never have suspected that an estate agent would go to such lengths to make a sale. There are more than 12,000 registered estate agencies in the UK, and not all of them are as murky as the ones I came across. But during my eight-month investigation, I discovered a litany of dishonesty, deception, deceit and outright criminality."

"The industry desperately needs better regulation and perhaps, like in the United States, estate agents should be required to have a qualification other than a sharp suit."