13:20 Sep 1, 2011 

I think that Wikipedia puts this quite well:
"Lack of punctuation. One aspect of archaic legal drafting – particularly in conveyances and deeds – is the conspicuous absence of punctuation. This arose from a widespread idea among those in the legal profession that punctuation was ambiguous and unimportant, and that people should gather the meaning of legal documents only from the words used and the context in which they were used. In modern legal drafting, punctuation is used to give clarification about meaning."
I agree with Jaime's interpretation.

11:59 Sep 1, 2011 

The lawyer is wrong. My lease (from a company in Virginia) has punctuation. I would argue that there is an implied "to the flat" afterwards, and that empty space that meets these parameters belongs to the flat.

11:46 Sep 1, 2011 

"...that any void adjacent to and having exclusive access from the flat large enough to provide storage space to the flat and only to the flat shall belong to it (i.e. the flat)"? Thus if I interpret you correctly, "to the flat" might refer to your suggestions in both (a) and (b), and the writer lost a second "to the flat" in the wash.

11:41 Sep 1, 2011 

Is it written by a pal of Shakespeare's? I find myself forced into interpreting it with a word order from Elizabethan English (where "to the flat shall belong" is "shall belong to the flat" just as "... and thou to me shalt belong" = " ... and you will belong to me").

Personally, I suspect careless drafting. : o )