If your insurance covers loss of rental income that may be another source for capital during that time and may offset the cost of the hotel.If its going to take longer than a few weeks, you may offer to have them stay in another rental property if you have one available until the repairs are made.If none of the above options are available, then you may have to look at evicting because the house is not habitable and is too much of a liability.I would definitely exhaust all options to keep the tenants if they have been good tenants. 

It's best in this situation to stick to the legal script just in case it backfires.There was a podcast episode that covered something very similar, can't remember the number or guest but it was a few years back. 

Not sure if the lender is covering any costs or anything for you.

In a down market, it could be very hard to cover your expenses and then you have to wait years for appreciation.

All of their past turn overs were around 1500 - 1800 which the sec. deposits covered.

Also when you are a principal to the transaction, your errors & omissions insurance will not cover you. 

Would an estoppel cover this? 

@Gerorge Bailey Yes that will cover your 2 year history of employment.

Surely they could market this as a "reduced allergen" apartment (or in case of new construction actually claim "no pets have ever lived here") and there would be a solid niche market of folks who suffer from allergies who would love to live in a unit like that!

To piggy back on what Mike said, if this is an illegal 4 plex, section 8 will not cover a unit that is not registered with the tax assessor, so that will make renting the unit much tougher.