Faces fines.

He wasn't fined.

It's click bate because it could just as easily been written "faces potential fines" or something.

"Hey, we're just letting you know that you're technically in violation, you have 30 days to fix it, but if you need more time just let us know."

Honestly the city seems the most reasonable of all involved here, but I get that an NOV letter might hurt the homeowners feelings.