I am living in my friend's house. He is charging me $300 a month to live there, but he does not see me as a "tenant" but as a friend that moved in and is "helping" him pay part of his bills. He gets annoyed when I write a check and put RENT in the memo field. Part of why he doesn't want me to write checks is because he does not claim it as renter's income, but I prefer to write checks as a way to prove that I am paying it.
I don't want to let a legal definition get in the way of a friendship, but if I am a tenant, then he is my landlord right? We have no written lease agreement but what bugs me is that even though I pay rent, he does not see himself as a landlord. He sees me as part of the household. I also get a bit angry when I find out he cashed my rent check to pay a car payment. I realize that he is allowed to spend my rent money however he wants, but I truly am contributing to HIS family not the other way around.
Let's say for example I were to file for bankruptcy while living there. My stuff is my stuff, and his stuff is his stuff right? Since I"m using the utilities would a trustee call everything and anything in the house "property of interest" simply because I use it? I want to avoid any problems that might arise.
EDIT: I have forgot to mention that I put the electric bill in my name after he had his electricity shut off for non-payment. We had to have a notarized landlord statement, faxed to the utility company stating when I moved in because the house is listed as an apartment.

