Absent an authority to the contrary, it cannot be assumed that charging a tenant a fee to bring an apartment into compliance with the warranty of habitability is going to be upheld by a court. The big question is whether it's worth the cost, time and potential (likely) damage to the landlord-tenant relationship to get to a position where the court would find whether (a) such fees are consistent with public policy and (b) whether this particular issue implicated habitability issues.

