In my town we've just received news that an ordinance was passed making this type of short term rentals illegal. So now we know, and I will adjust my business to conform to the law. As is being said here, Airbnb has declared that they will uphold the laws, so that's what they are doing in London, and probably will start doing in my neck of the woods if hosts don't voluntarily comply. This is a huge blow to my business, but I knew the risks and took them, now I have to come up with a new plan. So I am bothered by all of this, but accept it.
What I am not accepting is that Airbnb doesn't have a clear way to deal with this other then the disingenuous sounding email about "hospitality standards" if they are not saying exactly what standards are not being met. Why don't they simply say "You are listing three entire space units which is not allowed under local law and you didn't shut them down so we are shutting them down for you". Be black and white about it, then let your Customer Support department know what is going on and let them also reply in clear terms. It seems like part of the issue is the intential confusion that Airbnb is causing, and then compounding it by not having the support team know what's going on, so they are thinking, is it a hoax, is it a spam letter, is it a mistake?
I think that they have every right to shut down certain listings but they should be clear about what they are doing and give the hosts that have made them lots of money and allowed them to become a billion dollar industry the benefit of an honest answer.