<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" /> I don't know what causes this problem, but the fact that the house is uniquely rent/buy-able is probably part of it. You can rent a room in the Ducal inn, though there are less problems with that, IIRC.
She doesn't have a recent save? An older save would give you an idea of what is missing, even if you don't want to revert to it permanently and re-do part of the game.
Don't worry too much about the gold. It was kept in the chest because eventually gold starts cluttering up the inventory; by the end of the game, 50k stacks of gold are considered pocket change.
