You will get more tax benefits treating it as rental income. And that's how you're required to treat it.
You have to enter your primary residence in as a rental property and then enter in the percentage of the home that is rental property. You'll base this on square footage.
So whatever percentage of the square footage is rented you will deduct that percentage of the bills on the house. For instance, if you have a 2000 square foot house and you are renting 500 square feet you are renting 25% of your home so you get to deduct 25% of your electricity bill and property taxes and lawn service and any other bills that you have for the entire house.
In addition, you will be able to deduct any direct expenses that you have for the renters. For example, if you buy new furniture for those rooms that you are renting then you can deduct 100% of that.
You will also have to depreciate the portion of your home that you are renting. IRS rules require you to take the depreciation year to year and recapture it at the sale of the home. If you don't take it year to year you will still be expected to recapture it later.
Here are the rules on renting out a portion of your home.
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