Ok so as someone who has 5+ years mortgage experience, imo your BF is right.
1) It is not right for you to want to live rent free, quote below.
If I'm being honest, I was a little irked that he even wanted to charge me rent at all, especially market rate. But, the rate was 30% lower than I was paying at my last apartment, and I was embarrassed that I thought I deserved to live rent-free, so I agreed to it.
2) He is charging you half of market rate, which I think is fair given you two live together and it isn't just your place younare renting, quote again below.
The rent rate we decided on (his idea) was to look up on Zillow what rent would be if he rented his house out, and I would pay half of that.
3) He is in charge for literally all the costs to repair anything, pay the taxes, and the insurance. You taking on additional household chores is a part of living there, would you not be needing to do this if you lived somewhere else?
4) You are paying to rent, you have none of the risk for if anything goes wrong (see #3), you are not effected if the mortgage isn't paid on time, because you aren't on it, you do not deserve any equity in his house, and saying otherwise just sounds makes you sound entitled.
5) You say you can rent another place nearby for slightly more (given you are paying half the market rate, I personally doubt that you can get a location with the same square footage, bed, baths, etc. for just a little more, if you could, you aren't paying half of what was listed or you are talking about taking on another roommate). If this is true, that you could rent a similar location for just a little mkre without an additional roommate, you can argue to re-evaluate the rent based on current market price, quote below
I made the argument that I don't receive any of the benefits of owning the home (like equity) and could've rented an apartment nearby for only slightly more.
6) About the only thing you are entitled to is a renters agreement for both yours and his protection if you don't already have one.
A ton of people are likely gonna flame me, but this is the truth, you aren't married, you have no ownership in the house, you are a tenant living in his home. Imo you sound super entitled, and I know I saw at least 1 comment you should move out and find a better bf, and tbh if you are seriously this entitled to his property just because of your presence and how much you value yourself, you would be doing him a favor by leaving.