By reading "The Art of the Deal" by Donald Trump (sarcasm). But honestly I had some pretty crap experiences with this rental and I just made sure to document and call it out. I had to offer up alternatives instead of just saying "You can't raise my rent". The reality is as much as it sucks increases are going to happen especially in the city of Richmond where gentrification and other factors are pushing Property taxes higher and higher. My experience is probably different as Evernest doesn't own the home I am renting. So at the end of the day it was up to the owner to approve or deny my request. I made sure to specifically list the problems we have had and I offered up what I felt was a more reasonable increase based on economic trending and inflation with is currently at about 6%. I gave multiple options and asked for much more than I expected to receive. Ultimately I saved myself about 780 bucks which isn't a massive amount but it's nothing to shake a stick at either.