Can you help with our council tax banding? We found how to check our banding via a TV show and when we checked, found that our house was the only one in our street banded C', every other property was B'.

We contacted the council and were told we should have appealed this within six months in 1993.

We appealed this decision immediately but as far as they are concerned we are in the correct band. The rights to appeal against actions of the council are limited. Start with a letter to the council.

If this is what you have already done, then you must appeal from any refusal within four months, stating your reasons for appealing and also state the date on which you wrote to the council initially.

Your appeal will be forwarded to the secretary of the local Valuation Appeal Committee, which is an independent tribunal whose decision on the facts is final.

See the detailed Council Tax in Scotland - how to appeal' page at www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/localgov/ctha-00.asp#7 Don't cancel your claim

I signed up with a company to advise me on the mis-selling of an insurance policy I took out, but then didn't take the matter any further. I have now been hit with a bill for a cancellation fee of £119.15 (with a threat of it rising up to £800).

Do I need to pay this bill? The deal was advertised as no-win-no-fee. Yes, it is in your contract. You have sent me the original papers, and I have to advise you to go ahead with the claim.

After all - if you co-operate but the company fail to get you compensation, then there is no fee at all to you. It is totally against your interests to cancel the claim. Sibling' has no rights

Our family took in a child many years ago but he was never formally adopted. What rights does he have as regards the proceeds of our father and mother's will? HE has no rights, unless they were specifically stated in the will. Siblings could share with him through a deed of variation of the will after the death of the parents, but otherwise the parents would need to change their will.

If he is an adult, it is too late to adopt. Caught by hidden' camera

I RECEIVED an £80 fine and three penalty points on my driving licence for running a red light on a street in Glasgow city centre.

The camera is hidden behind other information signs. Is it a myth that these cameras should be clearly visible? The guidelines say that a camera should be well signed and highly visible, but this is no excuse in law for going through a red light.