Basement Apartment reported to DOB, How to Go Forward From Here and What to Expect? (rent)

[sharingpickle]

Today 1/11/2016, my family member let a DOB inspector enter her home to inspect the basement apartment they had (someone reported the unit).

It was considered an illegal apartment conversion.

Here's what I do know about the house/apartment:

The home was purchased around 1986 and it already had the converted basement. My family did not ever pay to have the basement apartment converted/created - it was always there.

The person living in the apartment is a family member, she was not collecting rent from them.

The 'apartment' consists of one bedroom, an open space with the living room and kitchen - the kitchen is fully equipped with stove, fridge, sink. The bathroom has a toilet, sink and shower.

The family member let the building inspector see the rest of the basement and they found out that a water heater was changed out/there were home upgrades without a permit.

I want to know what my family member needs to do going forward. What they will be responsible for in terms of fines/related court stuff. Do they need to get a lawyer? Should they try to make the apartment legal or is it more financially sensible to just convert it back to a regular basement? What else can they expect or what should they do to be prepared for whatever storm is coming?

Thank you in advance.