By Contessa Crisostomo

Staff Writer

When David Lieber and Amy Matush purchased their condominium in Rockville's new Town Center in 2005, they thought they were buying a close-to-1,200-sq. foot home.

A year and a half later, as construction nears its end and as tenants begin to settle this week, Lieber and Matush found that their condominium is actually smaller than they were first told.

An appraisal completed this month showed that the previously advertised 1,198-sq. foot condominium was actually 1,140 sq. feet, which is 5 percent smaller than they were told they were getting. With 58 less sq. feet at $511.23 per sq. foot, Lieber and Matush claim they are paying nearly $30,000 more than the condominium is worth.

Lieber said he first became suspicious about the size of the unit when he heard from friends that the condos of the same model were being advertised at an average size of 1,173 sq. feet.

When his suspicions were proven correct after the receiving the appraisal, Lieber sent a letter March 2 to RTS Residential Block 5, LLC, requesting either compensation of the $29,651.34; a comparable 1,198 sq. foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo with incentives; or the return of their down payment.

"The only response was non-responsive," said Lieber.

When his letter went unanswered, he sent a second letter March 7 reiterating his request for action to be taken.

"We can only ascertain from your failure to respond that you are not interested in reaching a mutually agreeable solution to this dispute," Lieber wrote.

On March 9, Lieber received a brief letter from John B. Raftery, an attorney representing RTS Residential Block 5.

"My client has reconfirmed that the square footage is indeed correct," Raftery wrote. "In response to your letters of March 2 and March 5, my client does not believe any adjustments (as you propose) are warranted or justified."

Lieber said he was not satisfied with the response, as they left many questions unanswered.

"They refused to identify how they measure square footage," said Lieber.

Calls made to Town Square developer RD Rockville, LLC, and DANAC Corporation - which makes up one-half of RTS Residential Block 5 - were not immediately returned by press time.

Lieber testified before the mayor and council during the Citizen's Forum at Monday night's regular city council meeting, hoping to bring awareness to his issue and reach out to others who may have the same problems.

Neither the mayor nor council members responded to his testimony, but Mayor Larry Giammo said Tuesday that the issue is not one for the city government to be involved.

"It's an issue between the condo buyer and condo seller," said Giammo. "The city isn't in a position to get involved. One thing in issues like this is that there are often at least two sides to any story, and last night we only saw one side."

Lieber said he and Matush plan to move forward with arbitration, raise the issue with the Condominium Board and talk to other purchasers to explore the possibility of litigation.

"Their contract violates the Maryland Consumer Protection Act. They've failed to do their due diligence in determining whether their contracts violate the law," said Lieber. "We gave every effort of coming in with good faith...and they're aware they're in a weak legal position."