Yup, agree with all the other replies. I was brought up in Leeds, spent a postgrad year there and know the Hyde Park/Headingley area well. The area (especially Hyde Park) is dog-rough and has a bad reputation for burglary, car theft and general nastiness, although not for violence IME. A lot of the student houses have locking front doors, and then a wrought-iron grille padlocked across the porch entrance as well, with all ground-floor windows barred too. Headingley is better, and the further out you go from the city centre (up Otley Road towards the Ring Road) the better it gets for crime. Not too much of a problem, as it's all on the one bus route (still No. 9?)
Don't want to worry you with your son going there - hel'll have a great time, and it's a really nice Uni. But if I were parking a Landy in Hyde Park overnight I'd take the engine out, lock the clutch pedal, empty the fuel, remove the wheels, seats and radio, strip the paint and leave a team of hungry Alsatians in the back. They'd still nick the rust off the chassis, but hey.
I'm kidding, but not by a massive amount.
DaveP