Council Tax single discounts - a cut out and keep guide

The 'Mail' is in a tizzy this morning because some councils are demanding that residents sign a waiver permitting council prodnoses to poke around inside their homes to verify that the 25% single discount on council tax is being claimed honestly.

Don't worry. If you're entitled to a single discount and receive such a form, throw it straight in the recycling bin. Then write a letter to the Chief Executive of the council stating that you qualify for the discount and giving them two months to act. If they fail or refuse to apply it within that period, initiate an appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. You'll win. They'll have to give you your money back.

And remember, the single discount doesn't mean that there can only be one person living in your home. It can be permanently crammed to the rafters with people staying and you can still be entitled to claim the discount. Here's who can stay for free;

• Boyfriends or girlfriends can live with you for up to 182 days a year on average, so long as they spend the other 183 days living in their own place
• Likewise friends, relatives, vague acquaintances you met on holiday, your sister's friends, their relatives or anyone else can live with you for the same periods
• If you're elderly and benefit from a therapeutic massage in the mornings, you can have a Thai masseur permanently living with you as long as you pay her no more than £35 a week.
• My friend Lucy will be interested to discover that she can have the Cuban Military attache living with her permanently and keep the discount, or indeed any foreign military member or diplomat or their dependents
• Your dim 18 and 19 year old relatives (if you have any) on 'A' level crammer courses can stay for free
• You can have as many student nurses as you like to stay for as long as they care to
  
• Anyone under 25 receiving training funded by the LSC can stay for free
• All full time students can stay for free
• And finally, you can have your own resident monk or nun in the spare room and still claim the single discount; handy for those who'd like a Buddhist for the garden.

In fact, it can be permanent party-time chez vous and you can still claim the 25% discount. And there's not a damn thing the killjoy council prodnoses can do about it.