Status of the Land Registrar in each country

What is the status of the Land Registrar in your country:

a) Who is responsible for performing the act of registration of property rights?

The Chief Land Registrar is ultimately responsible, but he appoints staff to carry out the business of registration (section 99, Land Registration Act 2002).

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/9/contents

b) In case of doubt/appeal, who decides? c) Must he/she have a legal educational background?

The Chief Land Registrar does not have to have a legal background, but the staff includes a Director of Legal Services (General Counsel) who is the Deputy Chief Land Registrar, and also Land Registrars and Assistant Land Registrars who are all lawyers.

Caseworkers can refer cases to lawyers if there is any uncertainty or dispute. In the event of a dispute, if the dispute cannot be resolved by agreement between the parties, it must be referred to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) if the Civil Courts. This is to ensure independent adjudication without risk of any apparent bias (for instance, the dispute may be the result of a mistake made by HMLR when registering a property or interest in land).

d) Could you characterize the act of registration as a purely administrative duty or a quasi-judicial one?

Quasi judicial, but as mentioned above, a dispute that cannot be resolved by agreement must be referred to the courts for a judicial decision.

e) Is the Land Registrar independent in his/her decision making? If yes, how does your legal system assures such functional independence (i.e. the decisions are only challenged before a court).

Yes, the registrar is independent in his decision making as to individual cases. The powers of the registrar, and the status of the land registry, are set out in the Land Registration Act 2002 and the Land Registration Rules 2003, in particular Part 10 and Schedule 7 of the Act.

However the Government requires HMLR to make some of its data available for use and re-use under the Open Government License.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hm-land-registry-data/public-data