OSWEGO, N.Y. -- Six low-income women say an Oswego landlord demanded sex in exchange for lower rents and maintenance work at his properties over the past five years.

The women and CNY Fair Housing sued landlord Douglas Waterbury in federal court today, claiming he used his position to sexually harass them starting in 2012.

Waterbury owns the Renaissance Fair in Sterling, Sylvan Beach Amusement Park, Santa's Workshop near Lake Placid, and about 50 rental properties mostly in the city of Oswego.

He did not respond to requests for an interview.

The women claim in the suit that Waterbury required them to meet him alone when they inquired about renting one of his apartments. When they got there, he quoted them an inflated rent price, then told them he would accept "trades" as partial payment, the suit said.

The lawsuit claims:

When the women asked him if they could do work at his properties to lower the rent, he explicitly told them he wanted sex in exchange for the lower prices.

Three of the six women acquiesced to Waterbury's demands and had sex with him. One of those women did so out of fear after he blocked the door on her way out. But she never ended up renting from him.

The three other women refused Waterbury's demands and did not rent from him, with one going homeless.

Two women rented as roommates from Waterbury. They said they had sex with him about 15 times each for lower rent and to get him to clean up their property. Waterbury sometimes used his landlord's key to enter their apartment without permission, the women said.

When the two women's garage filled with garbage, their home became infested with rodents and their furnace stopped working, Waterbury complained that they weren't having sex with him as frequently as he wanted, the suit said.

Two of the women reported Waterbury's propositions to the Oswego Police Department in the spring, according to Sally Santangelo, executive director of CNY Fair Housing. Another of the women reported his conduct to Oswego police "years ago," Santangelo said.

Oswego Police Chief Tory DeCaire confirmed today that his office received at least one report from a victim "alleging inappropriate or suspicious activity involving a local landlord."

The police department is still investigating, and DeCaire would not comment further.

The women's names were redacted from a copy of the lawsuit that CNY Fair Housing provided to Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. The newspaper and website don't publish the names of alleged victims of sexual offenses.