Manager Alan Curbishley took his players away to Marbella earlier in the week for three days but the players repaid their boss for the break with a lack-lustre performance.
Charlton have fallen away badly in the final stages of the last two seasons and a similar collapse could be on the cards again this time as they have now won only two of their last eight Premiership matches and this was their sixth home defeat of the season.
They could have no complaints about the result despite spurning an injury-time opportunity to snatch a point when they missed a penalty.
This result was further evidence of the great strides Villa have made under David O'Leary's stewardship.
The visitors dominated the early stages with Juan Pablo Angel heading against the post and seeing another effort tipped over the bar by Charlton goalkeeper Dean Kiely.
But it was Charlton who took the lead from their first attack of the game, Carlton Cole heading in from Paolo di Canio's corner. Within a minute the Addicks could have been further in front but skipper Matt Holland saw his low shot screw off the foot of the post to safety.
Villa deservedly equalised with a slightly fortuitous goal. England striker Darius Vassell fired home from close range when the ball ricocheted into his path after Gareth Barry's shot had been blocked.
It was a goal that would have pleased England manager Sven Goran Eriksson who was watching from the stands and had been the subject of a posse of around 20 cameramen as he took his seat following the on-going controversy over his possible summer move to Chelsea.
Charlton made their task difficult when they fell behind early in the second half to a poorly conceded goal when their former youth player Jlloyd Samuel was allowed to run into the penalty area unchallenged to fire the ball low into the net.
Charlton had to throw caution to the wind and brought on two strikers to play three up front but Villa looked comfortable until a dramatic injury-time penalty for Charlton almost caused them disaster.
Goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen was left badly exposed as Jonatan Johansson raced into the area and there was no doubting the spot kick as the goalkeeper brought the Charlton striker down but he escaped without either a booking or a sending off.
With their two regular penalty-takers di Canio and Jason Euell both having been substituted, Claus Jensen stepped up to take the spot kick for Charlton but ballooned the ball high over the bar into the stand where the jubilant Villa supporters were able to celebrate their stroke of good fortune.
Villa boss O'Leary thought his side deserved to win overall.
"We got lucky at the end," he admitted.
"It was a definite penalty and I am obviously delighted the lad missed it.
"We have improved as the season has gone on and we need all our players to be fit and available. We kept our belief and it is a great three points for us as this is a very difficult place to come to.
"My remit when I came into the club was to keep us in the Premiership and 12 players have gone and the wage bill has come down drastically.
"We now have a nice close-knit squad who get on well with the job they have to do."Charlton boss Curbishley was hugely disappointed with the result and especially with the awful second goal.
"The first half was great end-to-end stuff and either side could have been in front," he said.
"We gave away that bad second goal and we are not very good at chasing games.
"When they were in front they looked strong. It is a bit difficult for us at the moment as we have a number of injuries but we could have snatched it at the end with the penalty.
"It would have been a big point for us as it would have kept Villa away from us.
"I don't have many options at the moment and now we will lose momentum because we are without a game for two weeks because next week's opponents are in the FA Cup.
O'Leary was delighted that his Colombian striker Angel was able to play in the game as he faces a journey from hell in order to play for his country in the World Cup qualifier against Peru on Wednesday and faces 35 hours of flights.
"I don't think Juan will be back for our game next Saturday but I am at least happy that he was able to play in this game," he added.
O'Leary was non-committal about talk of a Villa take-over by a consortium headed by former Manchester City player Ray Ranson whose initial £30million bid for the club has been turned down.
"We can't be concerned with, or have any influence, about peripheral things going on around us. We just have to get on with the job in hand."Man of the match: Gareth Barry - Was at the heart of all Villa's best moments and had a hand in both goals.