Decision report 201003200

Summary
Mr C had a long history of owing the council money in respect of community charge and council tax.

His complaint had a number of aspects. These included disputes about whether the council should have pursued Mr C for council tax, and about what he was liable to pay. Other allegations included that he was not given the right to challenge the council's decisions and that the council did not follow proper procedures in arresting his earnings, issued incorrect instructions to sheriff officers and delayed in responding to correspondence.

We did not uphold any of these complaints as we found no evidence that anything had gone wrong in the processes concerned. We also noted that while it was unfortunate that a sum that had been arrested by the council remained frozen in Mr C's bank account for nearly six years, this was a matter for the Trustee in Bankruptcy, not the council, to pursue. We found that the council had told Mr C that he had a right of appeal to the Valuation Appeals Committee in respect of his dispute about liability for council tax.