Canvas Townhomes Allendale, allendale-mi

Wow… I have lived here for 2 years and had no issues until I transferred into a two bedroom. This apartment is terrible. They advertise having upgraded apartments but apparently that doesn’t include 2 bedrooms? The dishwasher just won’t clean at all it and I’ve put multiple work orders in. The handle of the microwave came off and they just glued it back on and now there’s dried glue everywhere. The kicker is that I was charged 50 dollars for a “cracked mirror” which isn’t cracked at all it was warped from moisture and was like that when I moved in. Next I was charged 150 for paint when I never even so much as drilled on a wall. Somehow my Roomate was only charged 25 and HE DRILLED IN HIS ROOM. I thought since I have photo evidence of my old place I could talk to someone to figure this out but I’ve called, texted, and emailed and I’ve just been ignored. I even went into the office to figure this out and the office is just college students who shrug their shoulders. I genuinely wish I could move back to campus view but I’m locked in here.

I would not recommend this place whatsoever. I lived relatively close to the maintenance shed at my time here, and the staff that worked there are extremely loud and obnoxious at all times of the day. The past few months, they have been driving around the loudest moped for hours at a time, sometimes at 6 in the morning and sometimes way late at night. As well, they never did their job correctly when needing to do a maintenance repair. The wood in all parts of the house was rotted and barely any of the appliances worked within the house itself throughout the whole year. When they offered the apartment to be ‘newly renovated’ I expected more than rotted wood everywhere and a toilet that couldn’t even flush. As well, when I moved out just a few weeks ago, I was given a $200 fee for just painting and a few tiny scratches on the walls. What?? This is a standard procedure, so why am I getting billed $200 for this? When I went to view the photos taken, I was taken to a whole separate website to login, even though I was never given a login username or password for this mysterious website. They just want you to pay the money and forget about it, which is just a massive cash grab. Tried to call the office as well, but was only met with an AI assistant and no one from the actual office picked up. Please never rent from this place. I was only here for one year and the management and lack of communication is the reason why I am not coming back.

The unit was advertised as non-smoking, and my lease also states that it is non-smoking. However, a newly assigned roommate smoked marijuana inside the home, causing severe headaches. I also experienced noise disturbances. Management acknowledged an unauthorized occupant in writing. I reported these issues, but management denied my request for a penalty-free lease termination without providing a specific action plan or timeline to enforce the non-smoking requirement and address the other concerns. Based on my experience, I would not recommend this property.

They know that students need a place near campus to stay so they take advantage of that and charge insane prices for decent apartments. The base rent is already expensive and then they add secret charges every month that they don't tell you about until you HAVE to pay it. And MAYBE all of that would be worth it if their buildings weren't constantly falling apart - they just tore down every balcony in the complex and are still charging everyone over $1000. "Why don't you just call maintenance to fix everything going wrong in your building?" Because their maintenance team, and everyone else in their staff to be honest, look like they're all 20 years old and this is their first job ever. That makes it 10x harder to negotiate any kind of changes in lease or figure anything out, because it feels like nobody who works there knows what's going on. Just last year I tried to move in with my girlfriend, but according to them I "couldn't". No explanation, no accommodation, just couldn't. They instead moved me into a different apartment where I have to pay MORE money for LESS floor space. If you're looking for an affordable place that will actually work with you, literally look ANYWHERE else than here

Update: 9/25/25 Canvas is telling her she didn’t return her unit key, the mailbox key and something else. She took all keys back on July 31, her move out date. After notifying her for the charge, she replied a couple weeks later die to starting a new job. They are giving her a hard time now telling her the window for appeal is closed. They said they would “escalate” her concerns. I see a long struggle in this. Daughter lived there 4 years while at GVSU. She was in a furnished 4B/4B, that was part of the area of units which had not been renovated in the interior. Three other bedrooms were occupied when she moved in. These were not girls who held parties, nor were excessively careless. The move in was unpleasant as the bed left for her had a broken box spring with sharp wood piercing out. We walked into the bedroom to find a banana peel left on the “freshly cleaned” carpeting and the desk sitting in the bathtub. Throughout the time living there the following was experienced. Lack of timely replies to maintenance requests. Light bulbs in the ceiling fixtures were left burnt out for 2-3 weeks. Exterior light fixtures were left burnt out or malfunctioning. The one light fixture cover dropped off of the ceiling fixture and crashed onto the coffee table, breaking into many pieces. There were no screens on 1/2 of the bedroom windows of her unit and when inquired, was told they had no extra screens. Recently I visited to help her move out and all the exterior light posts for safety and lighting around building EE were non working. Last time I was there only the lights on the east side of the building were not working. Made it difficult to see and navigate the stairways in the early morning talking the dog out for a potty run. They placed multiple requests to have the stacked dryer fixed or the lint vent cleaned, as each load took 2-3 cycles to dry. Each time they were told the dryer was fine. A couple Autumns ago, there was a post -homecoming game party two buildings over, which degraded into a situation where a non student returned to the party and shot another party-goer. The police intercepted and arrested the fleeing shooter in front of her building. The residents of her unit where woken to sirens and chaos. The complex has since changed policy on parties to prevent multiple people at a party and none are to be held outside. They switched security too. The upkeep outside is sub par. Some areas have working sprinkler heads keeping the lawn watered, others have broken heads not working or ineffectively watering. One head was a small gyser. It’s July and clear no one has been out to assess or fix the sprinkler heads, so water is being wasted. The black top basketball court in front of the management office was recently resealed. Some of the garage doors are not closing because they are off kilter, dented or otherwise broken. The older wooden decks and stairs are slowly being replaced by composite boards and vinyl siding, which are failing before the old wooden ones are even replaced. The east side wood stairs of her unit and decking is degrading to the point the boards feel unsafe they won’t use it, and only come though the west entrance where the composite decking is the replacement. There is no management staff on site on the weekends and if the students do not have a printer to print a pass for a guests car, the management office is closed and the cars are being booted. I saw two such cars booted on a weekend which probably were family. You may be wondering why she stayed. It was clean and rodent/bug free inside. The appliances worked for the most part (except the dryer). The roommates were friends and very supportive for each other. It would be a pain to move out. The transportation via the Laker Line was great. The rent was under $700 for her bed/bath. Photos are from July 21, 2025, and only a few of the ones showing problems throughout the complex.